Kalimantan wants to cash in on gems

Kalimantan wants to cash in on gems

By Mick Elmore

MARTAPURA, East Kalimantan (DPA): Diamond miners in South Kalimantan say their stones have magical powers -- a trait the local government is banking on to boost the economy of the remote and under-developed Indonesian province.

Mines around Martapura, which means "Gate of the Jewels", have produced diamonds for more than 150 years, but few people know about them outside Kalimantan, the southern portion of Borneo Island, which Indonesia shares with Malaysia and Brunei.

Indonesia now wants to market its diamonds by attracting tourists to the mines themselves and informing the world about the them. The region's diamonds are known in the industry for their slight rust color and hardness, said H. Abdul Madjid, the regent of Banjar Regency, where the mines are located.

The industry will be able to expand and employ more people in gem-related businesses, added Wiendu Nuryanti, who works for Stuppa Indonesia, a company that helped organize a gems and tourism conference in Kalimantan last month.

"The conference was a way to look at what potential we have and to educate ourselves. We also looked at ways to develop tourism and trade so the local people can have some benefit. Now they work very hard but get little," Wiendu said.

The locals have worked in the industry for more than 150 years, with families passing their skills - along with many superstitions - from generation to generation.

"In Kalimantan gems are believed to have supernatural powers and are used to cast magical spells. They are not only valued for their material level but also for their metaphysical powers," said Eka Triyatna Shanty, a radio show producer in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan.

She added: "In the diamond mines it is taboo to refer to the diamond by its name. Instead it is called Galuh, which means Goddess. And when searching for the Goddess miners do not curse or speak roughly so they won't upset the Goddess."

Maintaining one's cool takes some doing in the cramped, hot confines of the mines, which are the last place one would expect to find a Galuh. Yet enough sparklers are found to keep miners digging and investors financing them.

Local mining technology has changed little since the first diamonds were found here in the mid-1800s. The miners dig one- metre by one-metre square holes down 10 metres or more until they reach a layer of gravel where the Goddess hopefully is waiting.

Once dug, the family works like a bucket brigade, each on a bamboo platform passing baskets full of gravel to the person above them. The one on top piles the gravel near the mine and later they sift through it looking for diamonds.

Miners periodically seek relief from Borneo's hot, humid weather by cooling themselves in the muddy pools of water pumped from their mine.

The miners find enough diamonds to keep them going or they rely on the support of investors. Under most agreements they get 30 percent the value of the diamonds they find with 10 percent given to the land-owner and 60 percent to the investor who supplies the digging equipment, food and shelter for the families.

The government lacks records but estimates there are several hundred miners who find enough diamonds to keep at least a couple small polishing factories busy. But they estimate fewer than 1,000 people work in gems-related businesses.

Some big diamonds have been found in Kalimantan since 1846, including several of 10 carats or bigger. But the Tri Satti diamond tops them all. The 166-carat monster was found in 1965 and the government paid the Moslem miner who found it by financing his Haj to Mecca. Some say he had no choice in the matter when the government of former president Sukarno found out about it.

Soon after the seizure of the diamond, one of the biggest in the world, Sukarno's government fell. Residents of Kalimantan wonder what happened to the giant stone.

There are plenty of rumors, including one that says proceeds from the diamond's sale helped fund Sukarno's downfall. Another tale holds that someone in the current government still has the diamond. Yet another contends that Elizabeth Taylor bought it.

One thing is known: the miner who found it and his family still live in poverty.

Now the government is looking for ways to increase the income generated from the mines, both for the miners and others. One idea is to attract tourists to the mines, but the problem is few travelers venture to remote Kalimantan.

The miners themselves are happy to see visitors, and they are even happier for the chance to earn some extra cash by selling polished diamonds or the other locally mined gems like amethysts and agates.