Richard Ness : Blog : The Battle of Buyat: A Documentary by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

The Battle of Buyat: A Documentary by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) - 10 Jul 2007
by Eric

On the 26th of June 2007, Jakarta-based reporter Mr. Geoff Thompson aired a program for ABC’s Foreign Correspondent on the Buyat Bay Case entitled “The Battle of Buyat Bay”.


copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation
This documentary has some revealing statements from NGO activists, and it gives a good insight into how the Buyat controversy originated and how it has persisted for this long. The chronology of events presented in this documentary clearly shows that political interest and ideologies can easily overturn the scientific findings of reputable organizations like the World Health Organization and CSIRO in favor of pseudo-science. And the power of politics in Indonesia remains strong enough to throw innocent people into jail and disregard their human rights—reminding the viewers that the rule of law in Indonesia still has some way to go.

The documentary also confirms that deceit and fear-mongering are the norm and the key operational strategy for some NGO activists. For instance, on camera you will hear Mr. Raja Siregar of WALHI concede that Newmont’s tailings in Buyat Bay did not cause any illness. The transcript of the interview with Mr. Siregar goes as follows:

Raja Siregar: People are sick - we have to find out why people are sick.

Geoff Thompson: But it's not because of the Newmont tailings in Buyat Bay - do you agree with that?

Raja Siregar: Yeah I agree with that. […]

Yet Raja Siregar immediately followed up with another possible scenario. Which Geoff Thompson and former Minister of Environment Nabiel Makarim point out that there was a pattern of roaming accusation by NGOs against my Dad and Newmont - in effect making them a permanent target.

Geoff Thompson: For former environment minister Nabiel Makarim the reality is obvious, Newmont has been targeted.

Nabiel Makarim: Targeting means, I bring a case against you, case A, when it fails; I go to the second case. If it fails and I go to the third case and it is endless …this is not law enforcement.

Another activist, Dr. Debie Koola [?] of the public health NGO called MER-C also admits that a lump found on a Buyat Pante villager—Mr. Herson Bawole—was not dangerous. The transcript of this conversation is as follows:

Geoff Thompson: Dr. Debie Koola remembers Herson Bawole and the lump on his elbow which featured in the Anti-Newmont campaign before he returned to Buyat Bay.

Dr. Debie Koola: The lumps, call lipoma, are common - anyone could have them. But they're not dangerous. They're just from the accumulation of fatty tissues.

Geoff Thompson: We met a man Pak Herson who has a bump on his arm. Have you examined this man and what do you think his problem is.

Dr. Debie Koola: It's not dangerous -because if it's lipoma, like I said, then it's not dangerous.

Geoff Thompson: After the interview the MER-C doctor claimed that Herson’s lump was dangerous while he was in Buyat but not here in Dominanga.

These are just a few of the vignettes from the documentary. The whole documentary is twenty one minutes long and is quite comprehensive because it covers the full timeline of the key events that have shaped this case.

There is an interesting exchange in the documentary between ABC’s reporter and the current Minister of Environment. On camera, Minister Witoelar admitted that he dismissed the findings of the WHO report because of the advice from his staff. This is clearly a dubious explanation because after all it was the Government’s Ministry of Health that had commissioned the WHO to do the health audit in Buyat, and they agreed with its findings.

The documentary confirms that interest groups behind the Buyat controversy have enough political capital to undermine good governance and rule of law. And this is evident from the state of the Buyat case as of now. The decisive verdict of the 24th April 2007 was supposed to put an end to this embarrassing case for the Government. Instead the verdict has spawned a suite of new legal disputes. First you see that the prosecutors filed an appeal that violates Indonesia’s laws, and it also goes against the requirements of the Human Rights Convention of the UN of which Indonesia is a signatory. And contrary to what WALHI affiliated Raja Siregar admitted on camera, WALHI is pressing forward with a civil suit.

The Battle of Buyat is still raging, and justice and fairness remain a distant dream. And most of all my Dad and Newmont continue to be targets.

[watch full video]