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