Sociologist questions Buyat case

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Manado

A sociologist from Sam Ratulangi University (Unsrat) says "something has gone wrong in the attempts to unveil the truth" behind the Buyat Bay controversy in North Sulawesi.

"From the outset, I said this case stems from socioeconomic problems but my voice was drowned out by the media," Alex Ulean said on Monday during a seminar in the North Sulawesi capital Manado.

Ulean was commenting on the question of whether the case was rooted in poverty or environmental pollution. The Buyat Bay controversy, which revolves around the question of whether the bay is polluted, has been going on for more than a year.

Environmental activists accuse PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, a huge gold mining company operating near Buyat village, of polluting the bay, causing about 220 villagers to suffer from various diseases.

Instead of working to find the truth behind the case, public opinion has somehow been diverted to other topics, Ulean said.

"Number one, there is something wrong with the Amdal process," he said, referring to the mandatory environmental assessment that must be made before a company begins operations.

Second, he said, the role the media has played in this affair must be examined.

"The media has such expertise in making news that it shut out other voices," Ulean said.

Conspicuously absent from the case were simple facts and basic information such as the bathing habits of the Buyat villagers, he said. This points to the fact that we have no tradition of doing proper research on these types of cases.

Ulean also reminded the 50 members of the audience attending the seminar session that the case first came to the surface in 1999, a year in which a general election was held. He said during election years, politicians liked to talk about defending the people.

Ferdinand Karebungu of Manado State University (UNIMA) said during the two-day seminar that began on Monday the dismissal of hundreds of manual laborers by Newmont had caused trouble for the company.

"This despite Newmont carefully following all labor regulations," he said.

Newmont, which began operating in Buyat in 1996, was due to close in 2003 but the pollution controversy caused the company to postpone the total closure of the site, where there are now about 60 employees, down from some 700 employees.

It is understood that the company will monitor the environment around the operation site until 2006, according to the original plan.

Karebungu said there was resentment among the fired laborers and it was around this time that a non-governmental organization came to Buyat, presumably to "empower" the people.

The rector of Unsrat, Lucky Sondakh, said in an earlier session that the Buyat case had been politicized.

"It is in the interest of the university to rely on scientific facts in trying to find the truth behind the case," he told more than 100 participants, comprising academics, government officials and businesspeople.

Outside the seminar venue, dozens of students held a demonstration, chanting "Unsrat is Newmont's ally".

The seminar was sponsored by some 40 companies, including PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, another Newmont company that mines copper in eastern Indonesia.

Minister of Education Bambang Sudibyo, who opened the seminar, said the controversy around the Buyat Bay pollution case was part of the democratic learning process for the nation.

"In the past, such a case would have vanished in seconds because it would have been swallowed by those in power," Bambang said, referring to the New Order years under the autocratic Soeharto.

"Now everything is open and transparent and this is one of the reasons why (this case) drew such attention," he said.

Tiny Buyat village is about 80 kilometers south of Manado. Government institutions are divided over whether the bay has been polluted.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Ali Shihab said he hoped the seminar would help the judges overseeing the current court proceedings against Newmont make a wise decision.

Newmont is being sued by the government in Jakarta and in Manado for allegedly polluting the bay. Hundreds of traditional gold miners are also operating in the site, a famous gold mine dating back to the 18th century.