Farmers threaten to occupy Newmont if their demand is not met
Wednesday, September 27 2000 - 04:30 AM WIB
At least 100 farmers carried out a demonstration at the office of the governor of North Sulawesi and the provincial legislative council on Tuesday demanding the local government to help them to get their compensation payment from gold mining company PT Newmont Minahasa Raya.
Tempo Interaktif reported on Wednesday that the farmers mostly form the Ratatotok village located near the company's mining area demanded Newmont to pay the compensation of their land used by the company for its mining activities.
The farmers threatened to occupy the company's mining area if the company failed to meet their demand.
They claimed that the company had used their properties for years but never paid the compensation to them. However, one of the farmers admitted that they had received some amount of money from the company but he said that the money was not meant as the compensation payment for their land.
The company refused to meet the farmers' demand because it said it already settled the compensation payment many years ago. Newmont instead challenged the farmers to bring the case to the local court. But the farmers refused to file a suit against the company saying that they did no longer trust in the local court. (*)