Opposing destructive mining practices, activists seal Energy and Mining Office

KBR – May 28, 2019
Anti-mining protest in front of ESDM offices – May 28, 2019 (KBR)
Anti-mining protest in front of ESDM offices – May 28, 2019 (KBR)

Wahyu Setiawan, Jakarta – Civil society organisation activists held a protest action in front of the offices of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM).

They were urging the ministry to freeze the issuance of mining permits. The call was made over the large number of permits issued by the ESDM which facilitate bad practices by the mining industry in Indonesia.

Action coordinator Seny Sebastian said that the permits issued by the ESDM have had a terrible impact such as environmental damage and causing financial losses to people living in the vicinity of mining sites.

He gave as example a dispute in East Kutai, East Kalimantan, where traditional Dayak Basap communities were forced to move away because their village was to be mined by the company Kaltim Prima Coal.

Some 30 people also died as a result of floods in Bengkulu province as a consequence of the destruction of forests in the upper reaches of the Bengkulu River by coal mining activities.

“So indeed the ESDM is one of the cornerstones of the bureaucratic business called mining. Freeze [the issuance of permits] in order to conduct an audit, study or national moratorium. (What needs to be evaluated) is all policy formats, from the facilitation of licensing, issuing permits for forest areas and densely populated areas, there is in fact already plenty of evidence of deaths in mining areas because of permits for densely populated areas”, said Sebastian in front of the ESDM offices on Tuesday May 28.

Sebastian said they are demanding that the ESDM provide guarantees to people who are impacted upon by the mining industry and the group will continue to articulate its demands until they are fulfilled.

The 30 or more people who took part in the action came from a number of civil society organisations including the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM), Greenpeace Indonesia, the People’s Fisheries Justice Coalition (KIARA), Enter Nusantara, the student environmental group Ranita, the Indonesian Ordo Fratrum Minorum Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC OFM) and the Jakarta Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Tolak Izin Tambang, Aktivis Gembok Kantor ESDM”.]

Source: https://kbr.id/nasional/05-2019/tolak_izin_tambang__aktivis_gembok_kantor_esdm/99452.html