The Busang hoax

The Busang hoax

The controversy over the Busang gold mine has come to an
anticlimactic end. Bre-X, the Canadian company which claimed to
have discovered the world's richest gold deposit in the
hinterland of East Kalimantan, has announced the findings of an
independent analysis, which says that no commercially feasible
gold deposit has been found in the Busang area.

The announcement has been a blow to many parties --
particularly since experts at Strathcona, the laboratory where
the Bre-X samples were tested, suspect a willful attempt at
deception. The suspicion is that ore coming from other locations
were mixed into the Busang samples to make it seem that mining
was commercially feasible.

Oddities, indeed, were present in abundance in the Bre-X
Busang saga, including the manner in which it was handled by the
government. On the Internet a joke has been circulating that
novelists and filmmakers could earn a good deal more from Busang
than gold miners.

Such interesting stories, which seem as if they were taken
from the TV serial Dynasty, have focused much of the attention of
the world press on Indonesia. Unfortunately for us, this is no
reason for pride, but rather for embarrassment. What was shown
was a tale of stupidity springing from greed. All the talk that
has been spent on the subject so far has merely been a waste of
energy.

The Busang story tells of how a great country such as
Indonesia could be hoodwinked by stock brokers from across the
seas. It is time, therefore, for Indonesia to immediately start
applying world standards in every aspect of its national life.
This means that legal security must be assured for every citizen
without exception.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta