Kalo mau lihat keindahan sorga Islam, pergi aja ke tempat pelacuran, hahaha.....
>________________________________ >From: sunny <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Sent: Sunday, July 3, 2011 3:01 PM >Subject: [proletar] Chipping away at paradise > > > >Refl: Untuk melihat keindahan alam kepulaun Raja Ampat, click 1 & 2. Apakah >keindahan alam dan ekosistem bisa bertahan lama karena adanya penambangan >nickel? > >1) >http://www.smh.com.au/environment/coral-sea-paradise-faces-ruin-from-mining-20110701-1gv6w.html > >2) >http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/the-beauty-of-raja-ampat-20110701-1gust.html?selectedImage=0 > >http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/chipping-away-at-paradise-20110701-1gv3s.html > >Chipping away at paradise >Tom Allard >July 2, 2011 >Australia's lust for minerals threatens a marine wilderness, writes Tom Allard >in Jakarta. > >About once a month, a ship from Townsville makes the long journey to Raja >Ampat, a seascape of astonishing beauty and diversity. > >In the far western reaches of the island of New Guinea, where the westerly >currents of the Pacific flow into the Indian Ocean, hundreds of improbable, >domed limestone pinnacles rise from the sea, encircling placid, turquoise >lagoons. > >Fjord-like bays cut deep into the hinterland of mountainous islands, framed by >vertiginous jungle-clad cliffs that drop steeply into the water. There are >oceanic atolls, shallow bays with fine white sand beaches, snaking rivers and >mangrove swamps. > >If the numerous islands and countless shoals and reefs of Raja Ampat take the >breath away, they only hint at the treasures below. This remote part of West >Papua province in Indonesia is the world's underwater Amazon, the hub of the >world's marine biodiversity, home to 75 per cent of its coral and 1500 fish >species, including huge manta rays; epaulette sharks that walk on the sea >floor with their fins; turtles and an array of weird and wonderful fish. > >Yet the vessel that makes the regular trip to and from Townsville does not >bring tourists or divers. There are no scientists on board to study this >marine wonderland. > >Rather, the vessel carries tens of thousands of tons of the red clay soil, >rich in nickel and cobalt, which is destined for the Yabulu refinery owned by >one of Australia's richest men, Clive Palmer. > >Conservationists and marine scientists say this mining activity and the >prospect of more exploitation puts one of the world's most precious ecosystems >under threat. > >As the environment is imperilled, the impact on local communities has been >devastating. Once close-knit villages are divided as competing mining >companies offer financial inducements to residents for support. And, in a >sadly familiar tale for the Papua region, where separatist sentiments linger, >the benefits of exploiting its resources are largely flowing outside the >region. Derisory royalties go to landowners and minuscule salaries are paid to >locals who gain employment. > >''I'm appalled by what's going on,'' says Charlie Veron, the former chief >scientist from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, who has surveyed >the region on many occasions. > >''If you had a rainforest with the most diverse range of species in the world >and people started mining there without doing any kind of proper environmental >impact study, there would quite rightly be outrage . Well, that's what's >happening here.'' > >The vessels sent to collect the nickel and cobalt for Palmer's Queensland >Nickel company dock at Manuran Island, where the mining has continued unabated >despite a decree by the West Papua governor, Abraham Atururi, banning all >mining activity in Raja Ampat. > >''The mining started in 2006. There were protests but the military and police >came and they stopped them,'' says Yohannis Goram, from Yayasan Nazareth, a >local group that opposes mining. > >The operator of the mine, PT Anugerah Surya Pratama (PT ASP), has promised >environmental safeguards, but according to one local from nearby Rauki village >they are ineffective. > >''When it rains the sea turns red and sometimes even yellow,'' a village elder >says in a phone interview. ''The runoff is supposed to go into a hole but they >come out [into the sea].'' > >Yosias Kein hails from Kapidiri, another island near Manuran that claims >customary ownership. ''The mining waste damaged the coastal areas and covered >up the coral reefs. Besides, it is difficult for people to get fish now. >Fishermen in Kabare village, also in Rauki village, saw the waste went down >into the seas near Manuran. Now they have to go fishing a bit further to the >east or west.'' > >The strip mining for nickel leaves the landscape barren and the steep cliffs >of Raja Ampat's islands mean heavy rainfall overwhelms the drainage systems >and sends the heavy soil into the water. > >The impact is twofold and ''really nasty'' for coral, Veron says. >''Sedimentation sinks on to the coral and smothers it. But worse is 'clay >fraction', where very fine particles are suspended in the water, blocking the >sunlight.'' > >Photos taken from Manuran and supplied to the Herald show murky water and dead >coral after heavy rain. > >PT ASP, based in Jakarta, owns PT Anugrah Surya Indotama (PT ASI), another >mining outfit that operates on Kawe Island in Raja Ampat, despite a court >order to desist due to a conflict over mining rights with a West Papua-based >company. > >The ultimate ownership of the companies are a mystery, although West Papua is >rife with speculation that senior politicians and military figures have a >stake in them. That is easy to understand, as the Jakarta firm seems to have >extraordinary pull at the highest levels of government in Jakarta and Raja >Ampat. > >The rival mining company PT Kawei Sejahtera Mining (PT KSM) is owned by a >local man, Daniel Daat. When it began loading its first shipload of nickel at >Kawe in 2008, PT ASI, which also claims a mining licence for Kawe, complained. >Three gunships and a plane were deployed to stop the consignment and Daat was >thrown into prison. > >The mines at Manuran and Kawe are guarded by military and police who locals >say are on the company payroll. And while 15 mining companies have been pushed >out of Raja Ampat after the governor's decree, PT ASP and PT ASI have stayed. > >Korinus Ayelo is the village chief of Selpele, which has customary ownership >of Kawe, and supports Daat's PT KSM. But PT ASI engineered the highly >contested elevation of another chief, Benyamin Arempele, who endorsed its >right to mine. Repeated legal cases have found in favour of Daat, but PT ASI >continues to develop its mine and conduct exploration. > >''They are still working today, guarded by the police,'' Ayelo says. Villagers >who were previously close now don't talk to each other. > >''There's a distance between our hearts,'' he continues. ''The people are >uneasy. PT ASI uses the military. There are TNI [armed forces] everywhere. >People must face the presence of TNI every day.'' > >Daat says high level political and military support from Jakarta is behind PT >ASI's continued operations. ''It is impossible to get such support for >nothing. I believe the profits from Manuran Island are shared by several >parties, parties that support this company. I won this case at the district >court, at the provincial court and at the Supreme Court. How great is the >Indonesian law system? They are still in Kawe doing exploitation despite the >court's rulings.'' > >At the very least, the two companies appear to have a cavalier approach to >doing business in Raja Ampat. Police documents obtained by the Herald reveal >the company allegedly bribed the bupati (regency head) of Raja Ampat, Marcus >Wanma, to gain mining licences. > >Wanma was paid $36,000 to issue the licences in 2004, and a further $23,270 >for ''entertainment'' purposes, the report said, citing police interviews with >16 witnesses, including Wanma's staff and Yos Hendri, a director of PT ASI and >PT ASP. > >The report finds that about 670 million rupiah (then worth about $122,000) was >paid to Wanma in 2004 for nine mining licences and only 197 million rupiah >deposited in the regency's bank accounts. > >''The rest of the 500 million was used for the personal interest of [official] >Oktovanius Mayor and Marcus Wanma'' the report says. > >Wanma escaped prosecution and remains the regency head. He has been >incapacitated with a serious illness and is believed to be recuperating in >Singapore. He was unavailable for interview and Raja Ampat officials declined >to comment. > >Whether the licences were corruptly obtained or not, the sum paid for them is >derisory. > >The open-cut mining undertaken on Manuran is cheap and low tech. After >clearing the vegetation, workers simply dig up the soil, haul it into trucks >and take it to the docks, where it is sent for processing to extract pure >nickel, used in stainless steel. The mine's wharf is nothing more than a >tethered barge with no cranes. Costs for the company consist of little more >than maintaining about 40 trucks, heavy moving equipment and the simple wharf. > >Villagers and employees say most of the mine's labourers earn between $170 and >$200 a month. Customary landowners receive a royalty, but an investigation by >the Herald has discovered that it is tiny. > >Soleman Kein, an elder from Kapidiri, a village with customary rights over >Manuran Island, says a new deal was negotiated last year increasing >landowners' share of the mine's income from 1000 rupiah (11¢) a tonne to 1500 >rupiah a tonne. > >An industry expert with knowledge of Raja Ampat's high-grade nickel laterite >ore deposits says PT ASP would have been getting between $US40 ($37) and >$US100 a tonne, depending on the fluctuating world price. The average would be >about $US60 a tonne, he says. > >At that price, a single 50,000-tonne shipload earns the miner $US3 million. >The mine at Manuran Island typically sends at least two shiploads a month. On >those figures, the locals are getting less than a 0.3 per cent share. > >''These companies want a lot of money for not much effort,'' says one miner >with two decades of experience in Papua. ''They pay as little attention as >they can to environmental standards and take the money and get out . The >amount the locals get is pitiful.'' > >Hendri, a director of both PT ASI and PT ASP, pulled out of an interview at >the last minute and declined to respond to detailed questions. > >But one source intimate with the Manuran operation and the compensation deal >says the local government gets another 3000 rupiah a tonne, and a further 2000 >rupiah per tonne was devoted to infrastructure. All up, the insider says, >about $200,000 has been spent on local villagers in royalties and >infrastructure since 2007. > >In that period the company has earned more than $150 million from sales, >although between 4 per cent and 5 per cent of that revenue should flow back to >the central government's coffers. > >Some of the villagers are happy with the arrangement. Soleman Kein is >delighted with his new house, paid by the infrastructure fund. > >''My house used to be made of sago leaves, but now the company has renovated >it, our walls now are made of bricks, we have a roof made of zinc and the >interior part of the house is beautifully painted,'' he says. > >But villagers from Rauki say only 10 of 76 homes promised in 2009 have been >built. And disputes rage between clans over who gets the money offered by the >company. > >''Conflicts emerge because certain groups of families claim ownership of >Manuran Island, while others reject their claims,'' Yosias Kein says. >''Sometimes, there have been physical conflicts, sometimes an exchange of >arguments. The problem is that the company does make some payments but the >amount is not equal.'' > >The squabbles have torn apart what were once tight-knit communities. The >simmering discontent is ''like a volcano'' that ''will erupt one day'', one >Rauki native says. > >''Corporations are the ones that get the profits,'' says Abner Korwa, a social >worker from the Belantara charity who has tracked the mining closely. ''Once >the deposit is exhausted, once it is gone, the big corporation leaves and we >will be left alone with the massively damaged environment.'' > >Queensland Nickel has a sustainable development policy that strives for >''minimising our impact on the environment'' and commits to ''pursue honest >relationships'' with communities. The company declined to respond to >questions. ''We don't comment on the business of our suppliers,'' says Mark >Kelly, Queensland Nickel's external relations specialist. > >Korwa says companies such as Queensland Nickel should not shirk their >responsibilities for the behaviour of their suppliers, given they make >considerable profits from the arrangement. ''They don't have to invest too >much in Raja Ampat. They don't have to be troubled by mining concessions, the >way business is done here,'' he says. ''But they can still get the nickel''. > >Oxfam Australia, which runs a mining ombudsman, says there is a clear >obligation for companies that process raw minerals to be held accountable for >their suppliers. > >Oxfam Australia's executive director, Andrew Hewett, says: ''Australian >companies need to make sure that they are only buying minerals from other >companies that respect workers' rights, community rights and the environment. >If there's a good reason to believe that a supplier is causing harm, the >company should undertake a thorough assessment. > >''If any issues are found, the company should in the first instance work with >the supplier to try to rectify the problem. If this doesn't work, the company >should reconsider its business relationship with the supplier.'' > >Queensland Nickel should be well aware of the issues in Raja Ampat. > >It bought the Yabulu refinery from BHP Billiton in 2009 when the mining giant >pulled out of Raja Ampat, selling its mining rights for the region's Gag >Island, amid concern about the ecological and social impacts of mining. The >simmering discontent is not restricted to the villages around Manuran, but is >ripping apart others that have been the custodians of Raja Ampat's wonders for >centuries, nourishing the sea and jungle with animist ceremonies. > >For them Raja Ampat - literally Four Kings - was created by eggs that >descended from heaven to rest in the water. > >Many villagers and conservationists want mining stopped at Kawe and throughout >Raja Ampat. > >Kawe has huge environmental significance. It is close to the stunning Wayag >archipelago of karst limestone pinnacles and hosts 20 world class diving >sites, as well as breeding grounds for green and hawksbill turtles, and shark >pupping grounds. > >Photos obtained by the Herald show earlier mining activity at Kawe led to the >heavy red soils flushing into the sea, covering the reefs, a problem that will >get worse once full operations resume. > >Dr Mark Erdmann, a senior adviser to Conservation International's marine >program in Indonesia, says: ''We are very concerned about the potential for >sedimentation and metal deposits to be transported by Kawe's strong currents >and moved up to Wayag and down to Aljui Bay.'' > >Raja Ampat is theoretically protected by seven marine parks and a shark >conservation zone. Controls on illegal fishing are actively enforced, but >land-based threats such as mining on nearby islands continues unabated. > >Indonesia's government has recognised the extraordinary habitats in Raja >Ampat. It put the region on the ''tentative list'' to become a UNESCO world >heritage area, like the Great Barrier Reef, in 2005. But the application has >stalled due to government inaction. Many suspect that is because it wants to >exploit the area's natural resources through mining and logging. > >In a deeply worrying development for conservationists, nickel and oil >exploration restarted this year after the local government issued new >exploration permits > >Raja Ampat's significance to the world is immense. It is the heart of the >famed coral triangle and the strong currents that rush between its islands >help seed much of the 1.6 billion hectares of reefs and marine life that >spreads from the Philippines across to the Solomon Islands. > >''There is tremendous wealth in the natural environment from fishing, pearling >and tourism,'' Erdmann says, citing a State University of Papua survey that >found the long-term benefits from these eco-friendly economic activities >outweighed the short-term gains from mining. > >''Mining and this precious, pristine eco-system can't coexist in the long >term.'' > >Read more: >http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/chipping-away-at-paradise-20110701-1gv3s.html#ixzz1R1YPCqTF > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! 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