Police to use int'l study on Buyat as legal evidence
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
The research conducted by a Japanese expert on Minamata disease and a World Health Organization (WHO) environmental expert in Buyat Bay will be used as legal evidence in a possible court trial between the residents in the area and a giant mining company, an officer says.
National Police Deputy Chief of Detectives Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida said on Tuesday that police would meet with both experts from August 12 until August 15 before they left Indonesia.
"We will include all of their conclusions in the files of the Buyat case to accompany our own laboratory test results so that we can get more solid evidence," said Dadang.
The Ministry of Health announced on Monday that the Japanese expert and the WHO expert were now conducting research in Buyat Pante village, Buyat, Minahasa in North Sulawesi, near the PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (MNR).
The ministry explained that Mineshi Sakamoto from the National Institute for Minamata Disease in Japan and Jan Speets, a WHO senior environmentalist, were taking samples of fish and water, as well as blood, hair and nail of residents to further test the samples in a laboratory in Japan.
Sakamoto will be in Buyat until Aug. 11 before leaving for Jakarta on Aug. 12 and returning home on Aug. 15 to also review and evaluate all previous research conducted so far, the ministry said.
Dadang, however, has refused to use similar scientific results conducted by other institutions, including laboratory tests from the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences from the University of Indonesia (MIPA UI) and laboratory tests from the Jakarta Health Agency.
"We will consider other test results as background understanding for the police but they won't be included in the legal process. It will depend on police whether to take a test result as legal evidence or not," said Dadang.
He refused to comment when asked whether the police didn't accept other test results because they questioned their validity.
A Jakarta Health Agency laboratory test conducted on July 28 revealed that Rasyit Rahmat, 38, had a dangerously high level of mercury (52.50 microgram per liter (ug/L)), followed by Sri Fika Modeong, 19, Juhria Ratumbahe, 42, and Masna Stiman, 39, with 51.25 ug/L, 38.75 ug/L, and 33.75 ug/L respectively.
Earlier, laboratory tests from MIPA UI showed that mercury levels in the blood of Sri Fika, Juhria, Masna, and Rasyid were between 9.51 ug/L and 23.90 u/L.
Even though both tests confirmed that the mercury content was above the WHO's average normal limit of 8 ug/L, the results were far from the Minamata mercury level of between 300 to 500 ug/L.
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) chairman Longgena Ginting said that rather than checking on the existence of Minamata disease, the government should admit the damage it has done and find the source of the contamination to be able to stop it.
"It is alright for the government to invite experts to gather more data on the case. However, the move should not be aimed at covering up the environmental damage in the bay," Longgena told The Jakarta Post.