Fitri, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Protesters demanded on Friday a permanent end to gold prospecting activities in Bima district, but confusion still reigns over who actually has the authority to rescind the permit granted.
Hundreds of students marched on the West Nusa Tenggara legislature in Mataram, the provincial capital, to decry the Bima district head's decision to only impose a temporary suspension for the exploration permit held by prospector Sumber Mineral Nusantara.
They said the move did not go far enough toward ending local opposition to the prospecting activities, demanding that the permit be revoked altogether.
The company's operations in Bima's Lambu subdistrict were at the heart of a violent protest there on Dec. 24; in the incident, protesters clashed with police, who fired into the crowd, killing at least two people and injuring seven. No officers have been charged, but 23 protesters were named suspects in the case.
The students in Mataram on Friday met with Mori Hanafi, a provincial legislator, who said his office was powerless to act on the matter of the permit.
"The issue is in the hands of the Bima district head, not with the provincial legislature or the provincial administration," he told the protesters. "It was the district head, after all, who issued the permit in the first place."
Separately, however, Eduardus Suparto, a community leader in Lambu subdistrict and an anti-mining activist, said the true blame lay with provincial administrators.
He said it was West Nusa Tenggara's forestry office that last February issued the initial approval, which was then used as a basis for Governor Zainul Majdi to recommend that SMN be given the exploration permit.
"The forestry office's approval completely ignored the residents' concerns about the impact of mining activities in the area on their farmland and water sources," Eduardus said. "So our issue is with the forestry office and its letter."
Jaebal Abidin, a Lambu resident, said that although Bima district head Ferry Zulkarnain's decision to suspend SMN's operations was a welcome reprieve, the residents would continue to push for a permanent revocation.
"We want all the company's activities in Bima to stop for good," he said. "They've lied to us. They've been coming around and measuring our land, drilling holes nearby that are draining our wells."
A spokesman for the company, however, said all its exploration activities in the area to date were non-destructive and had caused no environmental damage.
Sophan Andriyan, from Jakarta-based firm Inke Maris & Associates, said in a statement that SMN's prospecting activities did not involve excavations or clearing of forests.
"SMN has not altered the local topography or impacted groundwater sources through its activities," he said. "All it is doing is taking geological, soil and rock samples from the surface"
He added that the company had already invested close to $2 million in the venture and would like to continue prospecting.