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)