Jakarta Globe – AFP, By Angela Dewan, December 4, 2013
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| A barge on the river of Mahakam to load coal from the mining area in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, is shown in this photo taken on Nov. 10, 2013. (AFP Photo/ Bay Ismoyo) |
Samarinda,
East Kalimantan. Barges loaded with mountains of coal glide down the polluted
Mahakam River on Indonesian Borneo every few minutes. Viewed from above, they
form a dotted black line as far as the eye can see, destined for power stations
in China and India.
A coal rush
that has drawn international miners to East Kalimantan province has ravaged the
capital, Samarinda, which risks being swallowed up by mining if the
exploitation of its deposits expands any further.
Mines
occupy more than 70 percent of Samarinda, government data show, forcing entire
villages and schools to move away from toxic mudslides and contaminated water
sources.
The
destruction of forest around the city to make way for mines has also removed a
natural buffer against floods, leading to frequent waist-high deluges during
the six-month rainy season.
And despite
the 200 million tones of coal dug and shipped out of East Kalimantan each year,
its capital is crippled by frequent hours-long blackouts as the city’s aging
power plant suffers constant problems.
Farmer
Komari, who goes by one name, has lived in a corner of Samarinda half an hour
from the city center since 1985 and used to get by growing small amounts of
rice and breeding fish.
But the
mines have poisoned the water used in his fields and small ponds, he says.
“The rice
is basically grown in poisonous water,” said the 70-year-old, standing among
his paddies, ankle-deep in brown sludge near the bare, one-room wooden shack
where he lives with his wife.
“We still
eat it but I think it’s pretty bad for us,” he says, adding that the water
makes his skin itch.
Along with
18 other farmers, Komari has filed a civil suit against government officials,
blaming them for contaminating their water sources and allowing rampant mining.
They are
not seeking compensation, instead asking the government to oblige a coal
company next to their homes to decontaminate the water and provide health
services.
‘Cronies
have done this to Samarinda’
Udin, who
owns and drives a rental car and was born in Samarinda 30 years ago, said the
city today has been transformed.
“When I was
kid, my home was a jungle with orangutans and so many different colorful birds.
But now it is bleak,” he said.
According
to Jatam, a group representing communities affected by mining across Indonesia,
the root of the problem is obvious — local officials have been lining their
pockets with bribes from companies in exchange for granting them permits to
mine.
“A bunch of
cronies have done this to Samarinda. We call them the mining mafia,” said Merah
Johansyah from the group’s Samarinda branch.
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| A general view of a coal mining area in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo) |
Jatam and
Indonesian Corruption Watch recently reported a case to the country’s
anti-graft agency, alleging an Indonesian company, Graha Benua Etam, in 2009
bribed Samarinda’s former energy and mining department chief in exchange for a
permit.
They say at
least four billion rupiah ($340,000) was handed out in corrupt payments, and
that some of the money flowed to a former mayor for a political campaign.
The company
could not be contacted for comment.
Bribes are
being paid for more than just permits, Johansyah said.
He said
they also help companies mine in areas they are not supposed to and avoid
obligations such as consulting communities and carrying out environmental
impact assessments.
Law
enforcement, often a problem across the sprawling archipelago of more 17,000
islands where power is heavily decentralized, is also lax.
Campaigners
say that companies have ignored their legal obligation to fill abandoned deep
pits once their activities are complete. More than 10 people, including seven
children, died between 2011 and 2012 from falling into these holes, according
to local media reports.
Coal mine
destruction spreading
This grim
picture of Samarinda is a far cry from what it once was — a lush jungle with
orangutans and exotic birds, many native to Borneo.
It is a
common story across the world’s third-largest island, which was once almost
entirely covered in trees but has now lost around half of its forest, according
to the WWF.
Like in the
Amazon, the rainforest on Borneo acts like a sponge, soaking up climate
change-inducing carbon from the atmosphere.
A recent
report from NGO the World Development Movement warned the coal rush is
spreading to better conserved parts of Borneo, such as Central Kalimantan.
The forest
in that province is currently almost untouched but companies such as
Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton have plans to begin mining for coal.
BHP said
that any development it carries out in Kalimantan “will be subject to detailed
environmental and social impact assessments”.
Despite the
destruction, Borneo continues to attract nature lovers from around the world to
see the oldest known rainforests on the planet and its more than 1,400 animal
species and 15,000 types of plants.
But
environmentalists warn there might not be much left to see if the environmental
devastation continues at the current pace.
Agence France-Presse
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