Richard Ness : Blog : WALHI in Distress! Or is it Hubris?

WALHI in Distress! Or is it Hubris? - 23 Mar 2007
by Eric

By filing the law suit against PTNMR yesterday, WALHI has completed its mutation into a full-fledged political organization. Clearly the time has come for the Friends of the Earth to disassociate its affiliation with WALHI.

It is truly astounding that WALHI would file a law suit on exactly the same issues as the ongoing Buyat’s criminal case when the verdict is expected in just two weeks on the 4th of April, 2007. It shows the unstoppable emotion of WALHI to blatantly interfere with the judicial process of Indonesia’s legal system. And this begs the question: Is WALHI still an environmental NGO?

Given the timing of their law suit, WALHI has also confirmed to the world that they are against the principles of rule of law, ethics and responsible behavior. And WALHI has made it transparent to everyone that they don’t practice what they preach to others. They obviously have a double standard.

Today www.mineweb.net and www.resourceinvestor.com reported that Indonesian NGO WALHI has filed a new civil lawsuit against Newmont regarding Buyat Bay:

“Indonesia's largest environmental NGO, WALHI, Thursday filed a civil suit against PT Newmont Minahasa Raya and other parties in the South Jakarta court, accusing the former gold mining operation of negligence in its sub-sea disposal of mine tailings into Buyat Bay.” Mineweb.net also said that Chalid Muhammad, National Director of WALHI went on to say in a statement that, "With our new lawsuit we hope the government will act with more determination in handling the Buyat Bay case so there will be no repetition of environmental crimes, such as those committed by Newmont, and also so that the government will act against anyone who pollutes the environment and endangers community livelihoods."

Mr. Chalid Muhammed thinks that dragging my Dad to a criminal court even when there was no evidence is not an adequate indicator of Government’s determination to prosecute PTNMR.

Mr. Chalid Muhammad is mentioned in my Dad’s pledoi because he was one of the members of the Indonesian team that traveled to Berkeley, CA (US) in 1999 to receive training on how to conduct anti-mining campaigns. My Dad gave me this picture [link] that was taken in 3/6/1999 while Mr. Chalid Muhammad was in the US. So no one should not underestimate WALHI’s determination because the case against my Dad has a decade long history of campaign. The picture also shows a direct connection between Chalid Muhammad and the Buyat Bay case dating at least as far back as 1999.

PTNMR is WALHI’s prime target, and now we are the tail-end of their decade long campaign. And here is how it started:

• On the 11th of August 1995 the Manado Post stated that WALHI and LBH (Legal Aid Society) claimed that Newmont’s tailings where causing fish to disappear! The only problem with this point is that the mine hadn’t even started yet and the pipe that disposed of the tailings wasn’t installed in to the bay. [see picture]
• 2001 WALHI and other NGO’s put out a book called ‘Minamata to Minahasa’ and when the case broke out Dr. Jane Pangeman and Dr. Rignolda Djamaludin went on to continue these accusations. All of this was patently refuted with the WHO UN & Institute for Minamata Disease report [link]
• Then they shifted to arsenic in fish and when that was disproved,
• WALHI again changed the issue, to arsenic in groundwater maybe a problem. Neglecting the simple fact that there was not a problem with metals to start with. [See WHO report- last page where WHO tested areas for 17 metals, including arsenic and mercury].

WALHI’s allegations have moved about between some combination of mercury and arsenic pollution in either water or fish throughout the course of their campaign. This latest law suit is yet another element of their campaign and only highlights the persistent nature of their activism even if it is against public interest.

WALHI indeed succeeded in shoving the Buyat case down the Government’s throat even though the legal and scientific facts never supported the case. What WALHI completely under-estimated was the power of the scientific facts, and the honesty and courage of scores of fact and expert witnesses who testified in the court that Buyat Bay is clean. Now WALHI is in distress.

It is clear that WALHI is in a situation of a major credibility crisis. And this was bound to happen the moment WALHI started to behave like a political party. NGOs have traditionally enjoyed a tremendous public trust and therefore can wield a lot of power. But if NGOs misuse this power, public’s faith in them can vanish instantaneously. And this is particularly true in the internet age where NGOs have come under intense accountability scrutiny and WALHI’s happens to be one of them.

WALHI’s true motive in the Buyat case has been a subject of intense discussion in various blogs. Blogs with headlines like Walhi Heading for a Reputation Meltdown? have openly challenged WALHI to publicly discuss their position on Buyat Bay but they declined to participate. What kind of an NGO would turn down the offer to engage directly with the public in a transparent manner?

Blogs have referred to WALHI in such terms as:

“It will be interesting if the now discredited environmental group WALHI can make a difference and serve the environment as it is supposed to instead on some bizarre political/personal agenda.” [link]

And blog readers have commented that:

“..deep down WALHI’s main agenda is not to protect the environment. It’s to attack foreign companies..” [link]

WALHI’s has suffered a major reputational setback not just in Indonesia but even a leading environmental blogger from Australia wrote a blog titled “What a WAHLI!” [link]

The most devastating criticism of WALHI came on their 25th Anniversary event in October 2005 when it was reported in the media that:

“Former environment minister Sonny Keraf said on the sidelines of Walhi's 25th anniversary celebration in Jakarta on Saturday that during the past three or four years, the quality and the quantity of Walhi's work had been in decline.” (Jakarta Post on 17-Oct-2005)

It is clear that the Buyat case has ultimately taken its toll on WALHI, and this law suit is another desperate attempt by them to cause a distraction just before the verdict.

Something terribly wrong has happened at WALHI. Chalid Muhammad and other such politically motivated individuals have hijacked the real environmental agenda and changed an environmental NGO into a political tool. WALHI needs to be reformed and the the younger generation of environmental activists should take charge and try to purge WALHI.

The world can hear the distress call from WALHI.

Additional Resources:
[Video] Dad debating Raja Siregar on CNBC
[Video] Rignolda Djamaludin testimony highlight.
[PDF] NGOs Undermining Democracy by Mike Nahan and Don D’Cruz