Richard Ness : Editorial & Opinions : Newmont Used as Target

Newmont Used as Target - 18 Jul 2006
by SUARA PEMBARUAN

[Manado]. Former State Minister of Environment Nabiel Makarim stated that from the beginning PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (PTNMR) has been used as a target by certain parties by raising Buyat Bay pollution issues.

“ This is very obvious with the change of the issues raised aiming at damaging Newmont,” said Nabiel while giving his expert and factual testimonies during the Buyat Bay pollution criminal case proceeding, in which PTNMR and its President Director Richard Ness serve as defendants, at the Manado District Court, Friday (14/7). The proceeding presided over by Chief Judge Ridwan Damanik SH also presented two Indonesian senior legal experts, Prof. Dr. M. Daud Silalahi and Prof. Dr. Andi Hamzah, as expert witnesses.

According to Nabiel, it was obvious that PTNMR had been used as a target since the Buyat Bay pollution issue came to surface. “Firt, it was a Minamata case, after it was proven baseless, the issue changed into the pollution of water and fish. After all allegations could be refuted, the issue was focused on sediment,” he said.

In his testimonies, Nabield confirmed that PTNMR has all permits required to undertake mining activities in North Sulawesi. At least, during his term of service as State Minister of Environment (July 2001 – October 2004), the Indonesian government had never issued a warning letter to PTNMR both verbally and in writing.

While he was in office, Nabiel continued, his party had twice established teams of researchers to study the truth on the alleged pollution of Buyat Bay. First, from September to October 2003 the Ministry of Environment [MoE] along with BPPT investigated the environment around PTNMR’s operations area. Second, in 2004 an Integrated Technical Team (MoE in conjunction with a number of governmental and private agencies such as Department of Mines and Energy, Department of Forestry, Department of Marine, Provincial Administration of North Sulawesi, POLRI, Department of Health, WALHI, JATAM, University of Indonesia, UNSRAT, SARPEDAL, Corlab, Batan, and others) again conducted an environmental study at Buyat Bay and its surrounding areas. “ Based on the two studies above, it was concluded that the arsenic and mercury concentrations in Buyat Bay, Totok Bay, Totok River and Buyat River are still within the quality standards and no environmental pollution has occurred,” he said.

Not Perfect

Prof. Dr. Daud Silalahi and Prof. Dr. Andi Hamzah in their testimonies said that the indictments made against Richard Ness and PTNMR were inaccurate due to misunderstanding the content of Law on Environmental Management of 1997.

Prof. Silalahi, environmental law expert who was directly involved in the formulation of the law above said that there were two important principles in the above law disregarded in the Buyat Bay pollution case.

First, subsidiary principles and environmental pollution settlement principles. In settling environmental issues, administrative, civil, and mediation approaches should first be made.

The criminal trial currently under way should be the last resort. Second, the ERA (Environmental Risk Assessment) study has not been regulated by the Indonesian laws and regulations. ERA is a scientific study, not a legal obligation.

In agreement with the above, Prof. Hamzah said that if the ERA study is still an academic bill, it cannot be used as the basis to punish.

Therefore, PTNMR and its President Director, Richard B. ness, cannot be indicted for having committed a crime of polluting the environment because such indictments do not meet the requirements as stipulated by the criminal law such as presence of intension and or direct involvement of the individual in question in such a crime (Article 46 of Law on Environmental Management). “ Therefore, I do not see any reason why PTNMR and Richard Ness have been named as defendants in this case,” he said.

After the proceeding, Richard Ness accompanied by his legal team, Luhut Pangaribuan, said to the reporters that the testimonies presented by the two experts once again confirmed undeniable facts that PTNMR during its operating period had always complied with all laws and regulations applicable in Indonesia. “ Allegations that PTNMR has polluted the environment around its mine area are groundless,” he said.