Protests staged as Boyce pays police second visit

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

United States Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce visited National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar on Wednesday in what critics said was an attempt to intervene in the legal process against PT Newmont Minahasa Raya.

The police are detaining several senior executives of the U.S.-based mining firm as suspects in the pollution case of Buyat Bay in South Minahasa regency, North Sulawesi.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman denied that Da'i and Boyce discussed the detention of Newmont executives.

"He (Boyce) simply came to say goodbye. I swear we did not talk about Newmont. He only asked about the progress of investigation into the recent bombing in Jakarta," he said.

Boyce, whose tenure in Indonesia has ended and who will soon leave to assume duties in Thailand, initially visited National Police headquarters on Monday, but Da'i was unavailable.

During a meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday, Boyce openly aired concerns over the detention of the five Newmont executives and asked for their release.

Nevertheless, Paiman said, the U.S. government had not intervened in the police investigation into the Buyat Bay case.

Apart from the five executives, including an American citizen, the police also named Newmont Minahasa president Richard B. Ness as a suspect in the same case and had detained him, but released him for health reasons.

Ness is to be questioned again on Thursday.

A police source said the five Newmont suspects were being held to prevent them from possibly attempting to destroy evidence.

As Boyce and Da'i held closed-door talks, several non- governmental organizations and student groups protested outside police headquarters against what they said was a U.S. move to meddle in Indonesia's internal affairs, in particular the Newmont case.

The protesters included activists from the Student Group for Indonesian Democracy, the Anti-violence Student Committee, the Tangerang Student Association and the Mining Advocacy Network.

The Community and Ecology Law Reform Organization (HuMa) held similar protest, demanding the U.S. to respect the ongoing legal process against Newmont and stop all intervention in the country's internal affairs.

Meanwhile, Newmont chief executive Wayne Murdy, speaking on Tuesday in Denver, Colorado, said the pollution allegations against Newmont's operations in Indonesia were blatant lies.

"We are not polluting Buyat Bay. We meet very stringent (environmental) standards there," Dow Jones quoted Murdy as telling analysts and executives at Denver Gold Forum.