Molo's People Struggle

11.14.2006

Solidaritas Perjuangan untuk Rakyat Mollo -english version

Sekber : Jln. Arjuna No.9 Kota Baru Kupang Tlp. 0380-830218 Fax. 833257

POSITION STATEMENT
SAVE THE PEOPLE’S FIELDS!!SAVE THE WATER ON TIMOR ISLAND!!REJECT MARBLE MINING!!

The people’s rejection of marble mining activities on Timor Island is nothing new. Various attitudes of rejection appear among the people, from writing reader’s letters to newspapers, sending delegations to dialog with the government, regional people’s assembly and mining companies, to mass si-down and blockade actions against mining activities that have recently led to the arrest and jailing of some people. Now the people of Soe’s South Central District are restless and struggling to reject mining activities. They are the people of Mollo, Fatumnasi Sub-district in South Central Timor District.

In general, rejection by the people is based on their enthusiasm to defend the well-being of nature and sovereignty of the fields that are the source of their livlihood, both of which relate to food production.
Unfortunately the people’s response has not changed the attitudes or the ways of thinking of policy-makers either from the level of the central government to the District Head, or in the legislature from the central to district levels.

FOUNDATION FOR POSITION
Marble mining activities certainly bring more suffering to the people than profits. The profits are only for the investors and those in the government aligned with them.

Those living around the mining site experience several forms of suffering:
1. the disappearance of agricultural fields due to confiscation by the mining company to build facitilities to support the mining or because the land is located on marble that is being mined;
2. the loss of people’s access to water, both water needed for daily living as well as water needed to water their crops. This is caused by the damage done to springs (in general many springs and underground rivers are found among marble hills), as well as to water pollution because of mining wastes;
3. various illnesses, especially skin diseases and stomach problems due to polluted water;
4. damage done to the culture of customs of the local people (in general for the people of the Island of Timor, marble hills are recognized as sacred and the place to carry out traditional rituals);
5. there is potential to experience human rights violations such as intimidation and repressive actions by police, the army and/or thugs protecting the interests of the capitalists;
6. for the people of Timor Island, marble mining operations, particularly in the areas of Mutis Peak (South Central Timor District) and Timau Peak (Amfoang District), threatens the availability of water and crop production. Several riverbeds that run through Timor have their headwaters in Timau and Mutis which are rich in marble.

Marble mining is also not an important matter for the people. Marble is not a basic necessity for people’s consumption (compared to water and food). Marble also is not basic material needed for the continuation of the economic system and the progress of human life (compared to the mining of oil, gas, coal, iron ore and aluminum). The greatest part of marble production only ends up as décor in the homes of rich people.
Only a very small portion of the profits produced by marble mining activities go to the government and used to serve the interests of the people. The majority of the profits from marble mining go to the company that takes away chunks of marble from Timor and processes it in other places to become a product whose value is far greated than the raw chunks. The investor enjoys his profits from the sale of marble, whose value has increased many times over, in the place from which he originates.

Can the mining of marble produce employment on Timor Island? Yes, but very little because the industry to process the marble is not located on Timor, whereas the loss experienced by the people is too great to count.
The attitude that should be taken in regard to marble mining is to SHUT IT DOWN.

Marble mining is different than mining oil and natural gas, coal or minerals that are needed as basic materials to produce various necessities. REGARDING THE MINING OF OIL AND NATURAL GAS, COAL OR MINERALS SUCH AS IRON ORE, COPPER AND ALUMINUM, besides the obligation to observe preservation of the environment, the position the government should take is NATIONALISATION OF THE MINING INDUSTRY, so that the profits that for all this time have been enjoyed by foreign capitalists can be transferred into the hands of the state to be improve and preserve the environment, and make available and serve various needs of the people.DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINING PROBLEM IN FATUMNASI, MOLLO, SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICT

1. Kuanoel, Fatumnasi, South Central Timor- FautLik (a rock hill) that stands proudly in Kuanoel Village, (Fatumnasi Sub-district, South Central Timor District) is threatened by heavy equipment owned by PT. Teja Sekawan Surabaya, a marble mining company. FautLik is the next victim after Fatu Naitapan in Tunua, a neighboring village not far from Kuanoel, was mined in such a messy way. This was especially a mess after the resistance of the people in Naitapan was stopped by repression when protestors engaged in a blockade were arrested and detained by police and thugs who were hired by the company.
- Friends from PIKUL, LMND (Buce Brikmar) and others who visited Kuanoel Village on 6-8 November to monitor the situation noted an excavator, a large truck (Fuso) and various mining implements were still in Kuanoel Village, Fatumnasi Sub-district.
- Mining activities have been unable to procede smoothly due to opposition by women from Kuanoel and Fatumnasi who stood in the front to obstruct the excavator.
- Repressive forces (the military, police and paid thugs) always are guards for each of the capitalist’s interests. They carry weapons, approach the people and intimidate them so they will not demonstrate and will reject those from outside Mollo who come to give solidarity for the people’s resistance.
This is how things stood most recently from 6-8 November according to the observations of Colleague Buce Brikmar.
- Also, head of the division for Development Systems in South Central Timor (Maksi Oematan) played an important role in support for the mining and pressured the people on Tuesday, 7 November 2006 at 3.00 or 4.00 in the afternoon. He invited the people to the office of the Fatumnasi Sub-district Head (Camat), saying it was an official meeting of the South Central Timor District government. This was why the men and women were invited because he said he had observed the people carrying out their activities and that they were being coordinated by Mrs. Aleta Baun. If he was not mistaken, this woman’s organization, up to now, was still illegal. Therefore, the next morning Aleta Baun had to bring all attributes of her organization to his office. He also demonstrated discrimination towards the people. He asked them, “All of you have received cash subsidies [from the government] to help pay for increased fuel costs, haven’t you?” The people responded that they had. “You have all received rice aid for the poor, haven’t you?” The people responded that they had. This was followed by one sub-district civil servant who said: “They have sir, they have already received rice and that is what they are eating at the site of their demonstration.” Then Maksi Oematan responded, “Great, later you will all get more, ya?!” His cynical words directed at the people invited a harsh reaction because there is no relationship of the Bureau for Development Systems, the mining problem and organizations. It seems from the attitude of this man from Development Systems that he was present in his institutional capacity. In our judgment he has violated civil-political human rights, so we demand of the NTT Provincial People’s Assembly to immediately order the police (the police force of South Central Timor) to detain MAKSI OEMATAN for the period of 1 week.
2. The above problem led to restlessness of the people of Mollo in the Fatumnasi Sub-district so that on Wednesday, 8 November, the people of Fatumnasi carried out a protest action in Soe [the capital of South Central Timor District] in order to meet with the Head of South Central Timor District and to pressure him to immediately withdraw the mining permit. Nevertheless, this action apparently did not produce results.
ISSUES BEING WEIGHED

The people of Fatumnasi definitely reject the mining because:
- their fields are damaged and seized by mining activities;
- a spring is being tapped for mining interests and the muddied water threatens health and will in the end disappear once the rock has been mined;
- there is restlessness due to police and military going back and forth in their village;
- the wind that gusts down from the peak of Mt. Mutis will be many times more severe and will attack their homes and plants because Fautlik that protects them from the wind will be shaved away;
- a simbol of Mollo culture will be smashed (Fautkanaf – the people are guards of the rock and Oekanaf – guard of the water)
- the destruction of fields and the loss of available water will have an impact, namely reduced food production that will end in poverty and hunger;
- for the rocks around Mt. Mutis to be mined spells danger for the preservation of riverbeds throughout the island of Timor;
- this means the mining of Fautlik and other rock hills = Timor drought in the future = greater destruction in terms of food security = death for the children-grandchildren of all who live on Timor Island.
DEMANDS

Based on the issues above, we demand:
1. Of the NTT Provincial People’s Assembly
- to immediately visit the location of the mining conflict in Mollo, South Central Timor, and not simply listen to the complaints of the people while sitting behind a desk;
- to issue a political statement pressuring the NTT Governor to give an honest explanation regarding the situation of permission granted for marble mining that was once issued and to withdraw that permission if it is one of the basis that allows district heads throughout Timor to permit mining.
2. Of the Head of South Central Timor District
- to listen to the complaints and demands of the people
- to give attention to saving the ecology and food security on the island of Timor
by means of:
- withdrawing permission to mine in the region of Fatumnasi Sub-district in Mollo, South Central Timor District that has been given to marble mining companies;
- demanding that companies that have already operated or that are currently operating be held accountable for rehabilitating the environment that has been damaged as a result of their mining activities.

Kupang, 08 November 2006
Signed

GREGORIUS DALLAFIELD

COORDINATOR