Rangga D. Fadillah, Jakarta – Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said Thursday that the Bima regent had revoked the mining permit of PT Sumber Mineral Nusantara (SMN) after a group of people burned the regent's office in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).
A deadly clash between Bima residents and the police on Dec. 24 claimed two lives. The residents were protesting against the mining operation of SMN over concerns about disruption to their farms and plantations. SMN, a joint venture with Australia's publicly listed ARC Exploration Ltd., is still in its exploration phase. The permit for SMN covers a total area of 24,980 hectares.
"I regret that the revocation was implemented only after the people became angry and burned the regent's office. It shouldn't be like that. The issuance of a mining permit [locally known as an IUP] requires approval from local people in the first place," he said during a press conference, held to announce what he had done during his first 100 days as a minister.
Jero argued that regents should consult with local people through the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) before issuing a permit. If the people agreed, he went on, the regional administration had to ensure that they would not lose their sources of livelihood.
"The most important thing is that people have to be assured of the benefits of mining activities in their region," he emphasized.
According to the 2009 Minerals and Coal Law, regional administrations have the full right to issue and revoke mining permits. The central government cannot force the administrations to revoke permits.
Jero promised that the central government would strengthen its supervision over the issuance of mining permits by regional administrations, to prevent similar cases to the one in Bima from happening elsewhere in the future. "We hope that regional administrations are more careful in offering permits to mining companies," he said.
Mining permits remain problematic, however. The directorate general of minerals and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has estimated that around 60 percent of the 9,662 permits issued across the country have no "clean and clear" status.
The ministry's director general for minerals and coal, Thamrin Sihite, revealed that in the future, the government would use the 2010 governmental regulation on the supervision of the management of mineral- and coal-mining businesses to ensure that regional governments followed standard operating procedures in issuing permits.
"If they [regional governments] don't follow the procedures, we'll warn the heads of the regions," he said.
As previously reported, the Indonesian Mining Association (IMA) said the old system – where the right to issue mining permits was held by the central government – was better than the existing one. Many problems, such as overlapping permits, appeared after the implementation of the new law, which came into force in 2009, the association argued.
A police tribunal in Mataram, NTB, handed down last week a disciplinary punishment to two police officers for "aiming guns at a crowd" during a protest against the mining company. No officers were found guilty of firing shots.