Court hears Freeport case

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court began hearings yesterday on the lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) against the government over copper mining by PT Freeport Indonesia, an American joint-venture company, in Irian Jaya.

Walhi could not have asked for a better judge than Benjamin Mangkoedilaga, the head of the court. Benjamin has made a name for himself due to controversial rulings against the government, most recently in the suit filed by Tempo magazine.

Yesterday, during the hearing to assess documents to determine whether or not Walhi has a valid case, Judge Benjamin said that the lawsuit had an appropriate basis. He set the next hearing for Monday.

He suggested a minor change in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit originally named Walhi's director, M.S. Zulkarnain as the plaintiff, but Benjamin yesterday said his name should be replaced with the organization's name.

In the suit, filed against the secretary-general of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Walhi said the government should not have approved the environmental management and monitoring plans of Freeport without first consulting the ministry's commission on environmental impact management.

Walhi sits as a non-permanent member in the commission which scrutinizes the environmental impact analysis of Freeport.

The American company, which operates one of the most successful mines in Indonesia, has criticized Walhi for taking the case to the court rather than trying to settle it through the commission of which it is a member. Freeport has been named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit.

At the hearing yesterday, Walhi was represented by two of its executives, Emmy Hafild and Arimbi. They were accompanied by lawyers Nursyahbani Katjasungkana and Nur Amalia of the Indonesian Women's Association for Humanity and Bambang Widjojanto of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute. (imn)