Richard Ness : Trial Log : Court Hearing #24 on 12 May 2006

Court Hearing #24 on 12 May 2006 - 12 May 2006
by Eric



Sribimo Andy Putro - ALS Labratory

I accept this witnesses testimony in it’s entirety.

The testimony from the witness confirmed my understanding that ALS is an accredited facility that is adequately equipped to conduct sample analysis of most aspects of the environment. Additionally, ALS as a company has the necessary trained personnel and quality control procedures in place to insure accurate results.

The witness further highlighted the need for diligence and care in follow standard using approved procedures in the sample collection process. Without doing so, the results from a laboratory may not be representative of the medium being sampled. It is vital that tight care, chain of custody and control is maintained throughout the sampling and shipment process.

ALS’s internal quality assurance and control within the laboratory is impressive. The standard use of replicate samples, blank samples and Certified Reference Material or CRM as part of the quality control adds to their credibility. . The use of Relative Percent Deviation or RPD confirms statistically that their results should be very representative of what is truly in the samples. In my opinion the results from this laboratory should be treated as accurate.

The witnesses testimony emphasis that standard concentrations of both mercury and arsenic are easily accessible by anyone who has access to a laboratory or laboratory equipment supply, be it a small industrial facility, a university, or hospital. Should the chain of care, custody and control procedures be lax, and should someone have the intent to do so, something as simple as a pipit or eye dropper can deliver relatively accurate volumes of standard concentrations into a sample bottle to alter sample concentrations with very predictable results.

On more then one occasion, prior testimony has highlighted deficiencies and discrepancies in the handling of the field samples. This witnesses testimony confirmed possibilities of what could happen if proper controls during sampling were not in place.



Madjid Essing

Thank you !!! I have no question and I accept this Witness’s testimony and its entirety. I wish to thank and state in public that I am proud of these people who have our friends and neighbors for all these years. As this company and individual, I could not ask for more than people who have the courage to stand up and the truth. Again thank you.

This witness was the FIRST resident of Buyat Bay, moving to this location from Bitung. This witness testified that he had been to Jakarta and sponsored by certain groups to make statements to the Minister of Mines and others that Buyat Bay was “polluted”. When asked why he did so, he said that once he was in Jakarta, he had no money and no way home, that these groups forced him to make the statement or he would have been an outcast in Jakarta with no food and no money. In addition, certain groups had tried to pay him to move to a new location but he refused.



Robert Sasuwuhe

Thank you!!! I have no real question and I accept the Witnesses testimony and its entirely, it appears that action of the few destroyed this whole culture and manipulated entire community on for some ones interests. It hard to know what the primary objectives were but the end result cause the break up of the village and conflict in the community. For that I feel sorry for what these people had to endure.

This witness also testified how people had manipulated the village with misinformation.



Rahima Jumaidi

I accept the Witnesses testimony and its entirely

It so obvious that a few individual exploit the community for the own purposes both people which stay and both people which moved have been manipulated

This witness testified that while others were playing around, she and her husband just kept on fishing and made anywhere from to 4-5 million Rp a month, enough to send her children to some of the boarding schools in Manado