Freeport denies neglecting native Irianese

Freeport denies neglecting native Irianese

JAKARTA (JP): PT Freeport Indonesia, a frequent target of
allegations of human rights abuse and environmental degradation
in Irian Jaya, denied yesterday it neglects indigenous Irianese.

Paul S. Murphy, the company's executive vice president and
director, claimed that Freeport contributes more to the local
community's welfare than any other company in the world.

Over the past seven years, PT Freeport has provided US$100
million for social services which include garbage disposal, road
construction and eradication of malaria, he said.

"In 1995 alone we provided $22 million, which constituted 1
percent of our the company's revenue," Murphy told The Jakarta
Post.

PT Freeport, an affiliate of American Freeport-McMoRan Copper
and Gold, has reserves of 1.1 billion tons of ore in the Irian
Jaya subdistrict of Timika.

The company is 82 percent owned by the U.S. company, 9 percent
by the Indonesian government and another 9 percent by privately-
owned Bakrie Group.

Backed by rights activists, many indigenous people are opposed
to the company's operations on the grounds that it does not give
enough in return for the use of their ancestral rights to the
land.

Adding to the sensitive issue is the presence of the Army to
secure the mining area. The Army has been largely blamed for
alleged human rights abuses.

Murphy said of PT Freeport's 16,000 employees, some 2,000 are
Irianese and 42 of those hold managerial positions.

The company, which contributed to the state coffers over
US$200 million in taxes last year, has specific programs covering
public heath, community development, cultural preservation,
business development and job skill training facilities for the
locals, he said.

Murphy claimed the wide range of the firm's social services
makes PT Freeport appear to play the role of administrator of
Timika.

PT Freeport, he said, welcomes the government's plan to raise
Timika's administrative status from subdistrict (kecamatan) to
regency to accommodate the expanding business activities.

Freeport has pledged to maintain the current level of social,
voluntary assistance for at least 10 years to come as part of its
commitment to achieving sustainable development.

"In the future, we will still be providing funds but will be
in the back seat," he said.

He acknowledged that social strain in the fast developing
Timika is high as it is currently home to an estimated 60,000
people coming from various provinces and cultural backgrounds.

Irian indigenous people represent only about one-third of
Timika's whole population.

The social strain, he said, stems mainly from economic
disparities between the locals and the immigrants and different
religions.

Tailings

Murphy also denied environmentalists' charges that PT
Freeport, which began operation in the early 1970s, has seriously
contaminated Timika's rivers with its tailings.

Tailings are finely ground natural rock from which copper,
gold and silver minerals have been removed.

He said that the mill operation uses grinding and flotation
techniques, which on the whole is a physical, not chemical
process and therefore the tailings are non-toxic.

"No chemical substance is used," he said. He explained that if
nitrogen is added, tailings in fact make good fertilizer for
crops like banana trees and sago palms.

Dames and Moore which PT Freeport commissioned to conduct an
environmental audit recently confirmed the company's claim that
the tailings are non-toxic.

However, it suggested that PT Freeport undertake an assessment
of ecological risks of the existing and possible future
concentrations of dissolved copper.

The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), an adamant
opponent of PT Freeport, insists that the tailings have been
poisoning the aquatic life in the Ajkwa River.

According to Murphy, PT Freeport currently dumps about 125,000
tons of tailings into the river a day.

Murphy charged that the forum is yet to carry out its own
scientific investigation into the nature of the tailings.

He said with its sophisticated laboratory, PT Freeport
monitors the effect of the tailings on aquatic lives in the river
system. (pan)