Gusdur wants Freeport to listen to the people
Tuesday, February 29 2000 - 04:00 PM WIB
President Abdurrahman Wahid urged gold and copper mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia in Jakarta on Monday to listen to the local residents' complaints over its massive operations in Irian jaya province.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab said the President was committed to honoring the contracts but hoped that the United States-based mining giant to have some understanding of the aspirations of the local people.
"The contracts would be honored but the company should also pay attention to local people's complaints and aspirations," the foreign minister told reporters following a meeting between the Indonesian president and the U.S. former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
Shihab said that the President, more popularly called Gus Dur, assured Kissinger in the meeting that the Indonesian government would not change the existing as long as the mining company made some concessions and some changes.
In the meeting, Kissinger, a member of Freeport's board of directors, called on the Indonesian government to respect its contract Freeport Indonesia amid growing criticism over the company's mining activities.
"The contract should be respected because it is in the interests of Indonesia since you want investment from all over the world," Kissinger told reporters after the meeting.
Freeport has been criticized by many parties for allegedly destroying the environment around its copper and gold mine in the Grasberg area in Irian Jaya. Head of the Regional Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) of Irian Jaya Muhammad Ali Kastella said that his office had found 13,300 hectares destroyed by the company.
Many legislators have also demanded the government to revoke a governmental regulation of 1994 that enables Freeport to avoid its contractual obligation to divest up to 51 percent of its shares to Indonesian companies or the government.
In a media conference, Kissinger also said he had accepted Abdurrahman's offer to be his political advisor.
He said he would confer with Abdurrahman at least once a year on political and social policies for the world's fourth most populous nation.
"I would like Indonesia to be strong, unified and democratic," he added. (*)