Freeport never cheated Irian tribes: Official
JAKARTA (JP): A senior official of PT Freeport Indonesia yesterday denied charges that the giant gold and copper mining company had cheated local Irianese in its trust fund deal.
"We have never cheated the local Amungme and Komoro people on the amount of the trust fund to be allocated for them," Paul S. Murphy, vice president of PT Freeport Indonesia, said in a press conference.
Murphy was commenting on the accusation by Martin E. Regan, a lawyer representing leaders of the tribes, who claimed that Freeport had "reduced" the amount of the trust fund it had promised local tribal people.
PT Freeport's mining site in Timika, Irian Jaya, some 3,000 kilometers (1,870 miles) east of Jakarta, sits on one of the largest known gold and copper reserves in the world.
Freeport Indonesia is 82 percent owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc., an affiliate of Freeport McMoRan. The Indonesian government and a private company, PT Indocopper Investama, own 9 percent each.
Regan said on Monday that Freeport had proposed a US$500,000 per year trust fund, calculated from Freeport's yearly dividend.
"The amount was far below the amount of the trust fund previously mentioned by a senior Freeport official," Regan said.
Andrianto Machribie, president of PT Freeport Indonesia, said in April that the sum to be allocated for the local community was $15 million a year.
Murphy said that Regan had no grounds to prove his claim over the trust fund.
"Regan did not understand what he was saying. He was flat wrong," he said.
Murphy said that the $500,000 was compensation for the local people's land now occupied by Freeport as its mining site.
The amount of the compensation was about 1 percent of Freeport's yearly revenues, which will be given to the local people around the mining site.
"It is totally different from the trust fund, worth $15 million, which Freeport had promised to annually grant the people for the next 10 years," he said.
Meanwhile, the Suara Pembaruan daily reported that the company had on Monday delivered Rp 34.5 billion to seven tribes living near the copper and gold mine.
Leaders of the Amungme and Komoro people declared on Monday that they would reject the 1 percent trust fund offered by Freeport.
A noted human rights and environmental activist, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, said that the indigenous people's refusal is understandable.
"Considering the afflictions that they have suffered for more than 30 years, their rejection is very reasonable," Abdul told reporters yesterday.
Asked about the deadline for the signing of the $500,000 land rights contract, Murphy said that it would depend on the Amungme and the Komoro people. "We are in no rush," he said.
According to Emmy Hafild of the Indonesian Forum for Environment, an non-governmental organization which has long supported the tribe, no negotiations have ever taken place throughout this protracted dispute.
"What the tribal people really want is recognition of their existence and dignity," Emmy said. He was referring to what the people have said about previous "negotiations", which amounted to merely a lecture.
Earlier reports said that the contract was due to be signed yesterday by the company and Amungme and Komoro tribes.
Tom Beanal, a leader of the Amungme tribe, said that the Amungme people refused the fund because it was drafted without involving authorized tribal chiefs.
"It was decided by Freeport without asking for our opinion," Tom was quoted by Reuter as saying.
Murphy said that the majority of the Timika residents welcomed the trust fund offer.
He said that Freeport employs 215 Western expatriates and about 16,000 Indonesians. Of the Indonesian citizens, 2000 are Irianese, of which 200 are of the Amungme and 200 are of the Komoro tribes. (imn/14)