News:
"Australian gold miners go home!" - AMMALTA peoples alliance shakes North Sulawesi

On July 13th AMMALTA (Aliansi Masyarakat Menolak Limbah Tambang), the North Sulawesi peoples' alliance against tailings and mining, staged a mass demonstration with more than 3500 participants of all coastal villages in the area. The demonstrants stated that the two gold mining companies MEARES SOPUTAN MINING and the fellow company TOKATINDUNG TONDANO NUSAJAYA which started construction of the Toka Tindung site without holding a valid government pemit for it, endangers the fishing and tourism sectors in the area both of which are flourishing and sustainable whereas the mine has an expectancy of six years only. As the livelihood and future of a thousands of
fishermen and their families are at risk they asked the government to have the gold company immediately stop all construction activities, otherwise the people would shut the mining site down themselves. "If tailings will flow, our blood will flow as well" they announced, and "Mr Peter Brown go home!" (GM of the australian mine).

The demonstration which was well documented on all Indonesian Television channels as well as local and national newspapers and radio stations, started in the morning at the mayor's office of the 'tuna city' of Bitung, continued via the North Minahasa regency's office and parliament, and ended in the provincial capital Manado, symbolically littering the provincial department of mining and energy, having an audience at the governor's office and finally holding a ritual prayer at the provincial lawcourt demanding justice for the many landowners who currently fight for their landrights against the mining company. A local newspaper called it the 'biggest environmental demonstration in Indonesia so far'.

Indeed dozens of busses, trucks, pickups and other transportation means caused a complete traffic chaos for the whole day. The mayor of Bitung, the regency's head of North Minahasa and the provincial governor were each handed a compendium of 20,000 signatures against the gold mine.

Although the demonstration was staged peacefully, on their way home a truck with more than 50 people from the village of Kalinaun was attacked by men known to be ordered and financed by the mining company that in a newspaper article of June 16th had asked all parties concerned to utter their grievances before the deadline given at July 20th. This is part of the regulations to revise the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) the company holds which the people demand has to be redone and not only revised as it wasa product of the Suharto government and not valid any more in the socioeconomic circumstances that had changed much since the 1990ies. On July 4th dozens of members of AMMALTA had successfully blown a so called "public consultation" for that purpose called in by the mining company but known that only selected community leaders had been invited who previously had been bribed to give their consent. Now the attack on the peaceful demonstrants three of whom were seriously injured, a woman suffering a miscarriage, is dealt with by the Bitung police.

The demonstration can be called a great success for AMMALTA and in general, as it proved that there is a broad people's resistance against the mine. The politicians addressed promised that they would find a solution with the mining company that won't harm the people of North Sulawesi.

Download NSWA Press release (PDF 56kb)