NGOs urge govt to appeal Newmont case

NGOs urge govt to appeal Newmont case

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmentalists slammed on Wednesday the South Jakarta District
Court's decision to throw out a US$133 million civil suit against
mining company PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) and urged the
Office of the State Minister of the Environment to file an
appeal.

Activists and legal experts from NGOs advocating environmental
issues said the decision was made based on an obscure judgment.

Executive director of Greenlaw Indonesia, Andri Akbar
Chaniago, said that the verdict was obscure because the substance
of the lawsuit was not about the dispute between the Indonesian
government and the company, but about the company's violation of
the country's environmental regulations.

"Yes a (mining) contract is pacta sunt servanda, meaning that
it should be respected by the two parties involved and solved
through mediation (in case of a dispute). But that doesn't mean
one of them is allowed to violate the law. The judges should have
also considered that Newmont has violated the law on the
environment," said Andri, who is an expert on international
pacts.

The judges at the South Jakarta District Court decided on
Tuesday that they did not have jurisdiction to try the alleged
environmental pollution case, arguing that according to the
contract between the government and the mining firm, any disputes
arising between the two had to be resolved through reconciliation
and/or international arbitration.

Executive director of the Indonesian Center for Environmental
Law, Indro Sugianto, said it was the ministry's duty to appeal
the court's decision.

"Should the government accept the court's decision, we will
sue the ministry for failing to carry out the people's mandate in
protecting the country's environment," Indro said.

He said the Constitution and Law No. 23/1997 on the
environment stipulated that every citizen had the right to enjoy
healthy environment.

"Pollution carried out by Newmont clearly has violated the
laws, therefore it is the government's duty to bring the
perpetrators to the court," he said.

NMR, a local subsidiary of the world's largest U.S.-based gold
producer, Newmont Mining Corp., has been accused of polluting
Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi.

Siti Maimunah, of the Mining Advocacy Network, said that a
coalition of NGOs would ask the Supreme Court and the Judicial
Commission to examine the judges' decision.

"Both of them should investigate whether the judges used the
correct legal arguments in making the decision," she said.