Skepticism abounds among Buyat residents
Skepticism abounds among Buyat residents
Abdul Khalik and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
After weeks of media attention, residents of Buyat Pantai village
in North Sulawesi have begun to doubt whether their health
problems, caused by suspected metal contamination, would be
addressed.
One villager, Hendra, said on Thursday that he wondered why
the government was focusing on forming teams to investigate the
alleged metal pollution, instead of medical assistance to cure
people's ailments.
"I'm afraid that if the teams declare there is no Minamata
disease in our home village, everybody will forget about us,
while we must still deal with strange illnesses and a decreasing
number of fish for the rest of our lives," he told The Jakarta
Post.
The government and PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) mining firm,
which has been accused of causing the pollution by disposing of
its tailings in Buyat Bay, have been busy denying that the
company is to blame for the ailments suffered by the villagers.
The government has set up an independent team to determine
whether Buyat Bay has been contaminated. It is due to start work
next week.
Jane Pangemanan, a medical expert who accompanied a number of
Buyat residents to Jakarta for medical tests, said she was
skeptical of the benefits of the team to Buyat residents.
"The villagers need help. They feel uncertain of whether they
can live the way they used to. That's what the government should
focus on," she said at a discussion in Jakarta.
Newmont has said the tailings pose no threat to the
environment or to humans.
Buyat Bay looks blue from a distance, but locals say its
underwater visibility has decreased by more than half since
Newmont started operations in the area in 1996.
A recent laboratory test conducted by the School of
Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Indonesia
(MIPA UI) revealed that mercury levels in the blood of four Buyat
residents measured between 9.51 and 23.90 microns per liter
(u/L), above the World Health Organization's average level of 8
u/L.
However, Keith Bentley, a former WHO regional chemical safety
advisor, said there were no international standards to determine
the tolerable level of mercury in human blood.
Meanwhile, Palmer Situmorang, a lawyer for Newmont, said an
environmental audit was necessary to clarify the case.
In a related development, the National Police said they would
let the health ministry and the state minister of the environment
office determine the limit of chemicals that could be considered
to contaminate the environment and human beings around Buyat Bay.
Both the health and environment ministers have repeatedly said
the bay is not polluted.