Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – The government was sending hundreds of troops Friday to safeguard PT Freeport Indonesia as a roadblock continued at the mine site in Papua province, halting its production for a third consecutive day.
"Today, the government has mobilized 300 police personnel and one battalion of (about 700) Army soldiers to secure Freeport," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said in Jakarta.
The deployment of troops was ordered by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adisucipto, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said separately.
"Police can't handle the security alone. The chief security minister has asked the military to handle it and it will be returned to police after things are back to normal," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Earlier, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked Purnomo to coordinate with the chief security minister to end the standoff, fearing a sizable loss of national income if the mine stayed shut.
The government, which owns 9 percent of the company's shares, calculates the halt in operations is costing it US$3 million in tax and non-tax revenue every day.
Hundreds of Papuans maintained barricades at the main entrance of the Grasberg mine, forcing the local arm of US-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. to stay closed. They are demanding that Freeport allow local people to sift through the firm's waste ore.
"If they are prevented from doing so, they demand compensation from the company," Freeport's independent commissioner Tom Beanal, who is also a local Amungme tribal leader, told The Jakarta Post.
Tom once sued Freeport in a United States court for allegedly polluting the environment. "Actually, shifting through tailings, which consists of toxic (materials), is dangerous to human health. But we are still looking for a way out to settle the problem," he said.
Negotiations with the company's management, local government, security officials and tribal leaders were deadlocked.
The director of local human rights group Elsham Papua, Aloysius Renwarin, said the demand for compensation was merely an expression of anger from locals who long felt they were ignored by both Freeport and the government.
"If they demand compensation, that's normal because it's their land, which they inherited from their ancestors," he told the Post.
"Freeport is just a company that acquired a contract to make use of the land, not to own it." He said the problem was not simply about locals looking for a handout. Aloysius said that Jakarta should realize the current tension in the area resulted from the buildup of many problems, due to political, social, economic and environmental causes.
"Protesters have demanded a dialog with Freeport's director James Moffett and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to discuss how to improve the welfare of Papuans," he said.
Aloysius warned that ignoring the demand for dialog could further fan separatist sentiment among Papuans.
"Freeport's operations have brought a huge fortune to Jakarta. Papua has been its 'kitchen' of development. The government must pay more attention to Papuans... otherwise they will be very disappointed to be part of this republic," he said.
He also said some protesters demanded the company's operations be stopped permanently because they said it failed to better the welfare of local people.