Freeport to release audit results

Freeport to release audit results

JAKARTA (JP): PT Freeport Indonesia, whose mining operation in
Irian Jaya has often sparked allegations of human rights abuses,
will release the results of its self-audit soon, a cabinet
minister said yesterday.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said the
results of the technical audit will be made public later this
month and the report on the social implications of the mining
activities in May.

Sarwono said the Indonesian government had pressurized the
American gold and copper giant to carry out the auditing two
years ago but it did so only last year.

"As it turned out the audit was too late ... Freeport has
openly admitted it," Sarwono told journalists after meeting with
President Soeharto.

PT Freeport, controlling an area of 26,400 square kilometers
with the world's largest proven reserves of gold, has been a
frequent target of allegations on human right abuses and
environmental degradation.

The company, in operation in Irian Jaya since 1972, is 82
percent owned by Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, nine percent
by the Indonesian government and the rest by the Bakrie Group.

Sarwono said he proposed that the Indonesian government
strengthen its role in dealing with PT Freeport although it has
no plan to nationalize it.

"I have written to the Ministry of Home Affairs to contribute
ideas on how to strengthen the government's role," he said.

He said that due to the size of the company, it can no longer
be handled on a subdistrict administrative level.

The central government in Jakarta has the right to augment its
role in the company because the contract agreement was signed by
the company and the government of the Republic of Indonesia, he
added.

Sarwono said the Indonesian government will stick to its
rejection of proposals to close down or nationalize PT Freeport
although the company had caused "problems".

"The government will never bow to such demands. Its basic
stand is that Jakarta should control it better, to make it a more
valuable national asset and act for society's maximum benefit,"
he said.

The company, he said, is committed to carrying out social
duties but it would be unrealistic to expect miracles from it.

It has paid royalties into state coffers and it is not their
business to know how the government spends the money, he added to
make a point. "Never mix things up. Don't blame Freeport if
problems arise that are our fault," he said, without elaborating
further.

Critics say that Freeport has not contributed enough to
improve the well-being of local tribal people, who have the
ancestral right to the land.

The tribes have often complained that they are subject to
violent responses by the company's security authorities when they
demand a fair deal. (pan)

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