Sociologist questions Buyat case

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.