Freeport responds

Freeport responds

I was surprised to see that editorials from biased "observers"
have now become front page news for The Jakarta Post. The
question shouldn't be What has gone wrong with Freeport?, but
rather "Why are some people so worried that Freeport is now
getting it right?"

First, let me provide some background information which was
not included in The Jakarta Post's description of Mr. Lubis (The
Jakarta Post, May 10, 1996). It is important to understand that
Mr. Lubis has never visited the Freeport mine, has never seen
first-hand the work that Freeport is doing with the local people
and that he works closely with the established anti-Freeport
NGOs. Perhaps more importantly, Mr. Lubis was the lawyer who
represented a recalcitrant and disgruntled former employee in
hostile legal proceedings against Freeport in 1994.

In this front page editorial, Mr. Lubis rehashes a lot of the
same old catch-phrases to describe Freeport; "secret,"
"arrogant," "untouchable." These are the descriptions that people
such as Mr. Lubis want the public to believe about Freeport. We
are working hard, however, to be responsible corporate citizens
of Indonesia and are constantly trying to meet the changing needs
of the remote area in which we work.

Freeport is anything but "secret": last year, over 300
Indonesian and foreign journalists visited our mine site.
Freeport is anything but "arrogant": when we've talked about the
many benefits we've provided to the local people, it has only
been to clear up egregious misinformation such as that which Mr.
Lubis has presented. Finally, Freeport is not "untouchable": when
all sorts of allegations of Freeport's involvement in human
rights abuses cropped up, five different independent
investigations of Freeport took place. Had any of them found any
evidence of wrong doing, Freeport would have been publicly
sanctioned. No evidence, however, was found by any of these five
independent investigations.

Freeport has voluntarily spent over US$100 million on
community projects over the last seven years. No other company in
the world has voluntarily spent that kind of money searching for
solutions to problems like those present in Irian Jaya.

Yes, as Mr. Lubis points out, we have taken a remote area of
Indonesia and provided the schools, the clinics, the scholarships
and the infrastructure development that a government normally
provides. Because the government of Indonesia administers
programs such as these to over 14,000 islands across the
archipelago, Freeport felt a natural desire to assist the
government in the development of this remote area. We have also
provided assistance to the victims of the Biak earthquake as well
as extensive humanitarian assistance to all parties involved with
the negotiations to release the OPM/GPK hostages.

The most distressing part of Mr. Lubis' "insight" is that --
yet again -- the NGOs and their surrogates are launching
unfounded attacks against Freeport without offering any solutions
to the "problems" they "identify."

Two weeks ago in Canberra, Australia, Paul Murphy -- the
Executive Vice President of PT Freeport Indonesia -- addressed a
meeting of the most vocal anti-Freeport NGOs. During that
presentation, Mr. Murphy challenged the gathered NGOs to help
Freeport address these difficult issues. He called on them not to
merely criticize, but help Freeport in realizing positive change
for the local people.

The senior levels of Freeport's management have made a
commitment to changing our operations. This is not just through
"advertising" as Mr. Lubis suggests, but rather through increased
efforts and transparency. As far as I know, Freeport is the only
company in Indonesia which has undergone an environmental audit
and released the results publicly. We have also commissioned a
social audit, whose results will also be made public. Contrary to
Mr. Lubis' unfounded accusations, the environmental audit was
comprehensive. Like the sour grapes criticism of this effort from
other quarters, Mr. Lubis offers absolutely no technical data to
back up his claims.

ED PRESSMAN

Public Affairs Department

PT Freeport Indonesia

Irian Jaya