Legal battle against PT Freeport reopens
JAKARTA (JP): The legal battle between the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and the mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia opened on Wednesday at the South Jakarta District Court.
Walhi told the hearing that Freeport has been responsible for environmental damage caused by its mining activity in Irian Jaya and that the company should be held responsible for spreading misleading information about a recent accident at its dump site.
The suit was filed following the collapse of a large pile of waste belonging to Freeport at Wanagon Lake near its copper and gold mine in Grasberg, Irian Jaya on May 4, 2000, which led to the death or disappearance of four workers. Freeport had said that the incident was caused by the slippage of overburden waste, which caused a wave of water and material to spill over the Wanagon basin spillway and enter Wanagon valley.
Walhi lawyers Abdul Haris Semendawai, Lukmanul Hakim, and Ersan Budiman stated in the suit that Freeport had violated Law No.23/1997 on environmental management, which obliges every company to provide accurate and correct information about its environmental management activities.
They said that Freeport had provided incorrect information in its press releases dated May 5 and May 24, 2000; during the hearing held by House of Representatives Commission VIII on the Environment, Science, and Technology on June 28, 2000; and in the company's 1998 annual report.
In the press release dated May 5 and during the House hearing, Freeport stated that an early warning system had been set up at Banti, a village 16 kilometers from the Wanagon basin, to warn the villagers of floods. Freeport also stated that the system had worked perfectly.
Walhi's lawyers, however, said the early warning system had not worked properly. They blamed the disappearance and death of the workers at Wanagon Lake on the malfunctioning of the early warning system.
According to Walhi, Freeport had deliberately implied that the Wanagon accident had been the result of natural causes.
Walhi pointed out that even though Freeport knew that the lake was prone to accident, the company did not stop dumping huge amounts of the waste in it. Therefore, according to Walhi, the defendants deliberately increased the risk of accidents.
Walhi demanded that Freeport make a public apology through national and international media. The company was also asked to publish a full-page advertisement for one week in at least 10 national daily newspapers and two local daily newspapers in Irian Jaya; and a one-page advertisement for one month in at least 10 national magazines, five international magazines and three international daily newspapers.
In addition, the company must also air prime time advertisements on national and international television stations; and on 10 national radio stations at least five times a day for 10 days, the lawyers added.
The hearing was adjourned until March 21, when Freeport's lawyers, from Minang Warman & Associates, will submit their responses.
Meanwhile, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Tuesday in Irian Jaya by the head of the Irian Jaya Environmental Impact Management Agency and representatives from PT Freeport Indonesia, The Indonesian Forest Entrepreneurs Association, the Jayapura Science and Technology Institute, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, and the United States Agency for International Development.
The agreement was aimed at implementing many programs on environmental management activities in Irian Jaya, including human resources development and improvements to the information system.
The event was witnessed by Irian Jaya Governor J.P. Salossa. (04)