Tin-producing Bangka loses its luster with toxic waste
By Budi Pristiwanto
BANGKA ISLAND, South Sumatra (JP): The heyday of Bangka as a tin-producing island is fading. Before the 1970s, the island's residents used to shop with dollars.
Money from excavating tin is no longer as abundant as it was in the past. Newspapers have often reported on the gloomy condition of the tin mining business. The downturn of tin prices on the world market and the high production costs are seen as the main causes for the gloomy prognosis. Layoffs and other social problems are commonplace.
In a recent media statement PT Tambang Timah said that the company's net profit dropped from Rp 305.7 billion on June 30, 1998, to Rp 182.1 billion on June 30, 1999. For many people, the news was not overly surprising.
Tin mining in Bangka was taking place at the time of the Dutch East India Company (VOC -- a Dutch colonial trading company) some 200 years ago. The remaining tin reserves on Bangka island are estimated at 523,996 tons. If PT Tambang Timah's production averages 20,000 tons a year, the tin reserves on the island will be depleted in 26 years.
With a surface area of 11,615 square kilometers, the island will undergo the same fate as the neighboring, parallel island of Singkep that is apparently now a dying town.
"The tin party ended a long time ago. What will be left is bleak scenery. Old timeworn buildings, untended parks, and a majority of old residents because the younger people will have moved to work in other regions," said Chairul, 30, who lives in Pangkal Pinang, Bangka regency.
In anticipation of the situation, the South Sumatra provincial government is planning to launch a land reclamation project in the coastal area. A number of kolong will be included. They are former sites of tin excavations resembling lakes with a depth of six to 10 meters, which are currently nonproductive and in a state of neglect.
PT Bangka Dwiwukir Lestari (PT BDL) of Pangkal Pinang welcomes the regional government's plan. It has proposed that the reclamation project uses landfill from the underground railway tunnel project in Singapore -- totaling some 1.2 million cubic meters.
The local government has agreed to the proposal because the landfill will be free. In addition, there is the incentive of US$1 compensation from the Singapore government for every cubic meter of mud imported from Singapore.
Former state minister of the environment/head of the environmental impact controlling board Panangian Siregar issued a recommendation for the landfill import plan on April 7, 1999, for a cooperation deal between PT BDL and PT Sinar Intimasprima with LW Management Consultants Pte. Ltd. from Singapore.
It was not surprising that non-governmental organizations, namely the Indonesian forum for environment (Walhi), the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and the Bangka Family Association, together with students launched strong protests against the government's stance. "That is not landfill obtained from digging but toxic waste," said director of LBH Palembang Suharyono.
Suharyono maintained that the landfill to be sent to Bangka would be the same type as material rejected by communities in Riau and Lampung. He says that based on laboratory tests at the Center for the Control of Environmental Impact in Jakarta, the landfill clearly contains toxic waste.
Five samples analyzed by the Center demonstrated that the level of the lethal doses (LD-50) is 1.9 to 5.7 gr/kg. It means that contamination by waste in that range, per kilogram of body weight, has a 50 percent death risk.
The smaller the figure of LD-50, the more toxic the material is. In government regulation No. 18/1999 on toxic waste, waste is registered in that category if the LD-50 is less than 15 gr/kg.
Surharyono said that it was even more astonishing that the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta sent him a letter signed by First Secretary Low Pit Chien dated March 15, 1999, saying that the Singapore's minister for the environment had not provided a permit to any company to export waste to Indonesia.
"That was the explanation from the government of Singapore. The South Sumatra provincial government may have been used by a group of people wishing to make a profit by sacrificing Bangka island. The provincial government should be wary and not easily tempted," Suharyono urged.
The South Sumatra provincial government apparently still wishes to import the landfill. "One should not make accusatory statements that the landfill is toxic waste. There is also a test result from another institute saying that the dirt is not toxic so we can use it," said South Sumatra Governor Rosihan Arsyad.
The pros and cons regarding the import of mud from Singapore are still being debated. Nobody knows who is going to win. It is certain though that the name of Bangka island remains popular, although discussions about it are no longer on the subject of tin.