I cannot sleep (sigh, its late at night and tomorrow is Monday..Arrgh).  Two last emails from North Sulawesi I got this morning are bothering my mind.  The first one was a short brief on recent condition of Buyat Bay's pollution victims and the second one was an up date for a mining construction project around the hill of Toka Tindung. 
      Lets say, Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) shut down its operation in 2004. It paid the local people less than one US cent per square meter for their land. After seven years of mining in North Sulawesi, it left scratch landscape with six open pits where 4.78 millions tons of ore is extracted. Operating in 1996, NMR disposed more than 4 millions tons of a highly toxic mine wastes into Buyat Bay, 2000 tons a day.  Ocean dumping, known as Submarine Tailing Disposal is a method that is cheap and convenient for mining companies. However, it is banned in many developed countries since it has bad impact to the environment and health. A report of Indonesian Forum for the Environment stated that Newmont's tailings contain four times the government-standard level of cyanide, high level of mercuy, cadmium and arsenic.  For short, people living in Buyat Bay suffer symptoms consitent with mercury and arsenic poisoning including skin rashes, body sores, bad headache, tumors, and reproductive problems until now. In addition, marine pollution caused the collapsed of the local fishery.
       Another mining plant in North Sulawesi namely PT Meares Soputan Mining (MSM company) which 85% of its share owned by Archipelago Resources (England) started its construction project in Toka Tindung area in 2006. Considering the gold deposit, it is planned that the company will only spend 5 years to mine. Refer to RPJM (regional development plan) mining is not primary sector for the North Sulawesi development. Also, due to the region's vulnerability to earthquake, the mining site and tailing dam located in the hill are not safe at all. Nevertheless, even though the project against the will of local people, local parliament and the Governor of North Sumatera who are mind their land to be mined, and without  official approval from the Ministry of Environment's official  for its Environmental Impact Assessment Document, PT MSM aggressively continues its project (It amazed me anyway!). 
      MSM seems confident by holding a contract of work signed by the late Indonesian Dictator President, Soeharto in 1986 and a recent  letter signed bythe Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources and Mineral for giving a green light to the project. (Sadly,  the Ministry of Environment's consideration is often ignored by another Ministry. Dealing with business, Environmental concern blames as a setback in development process). A wave of mass protest for the project is continuing in North Sulawesi. The email informed me that the company files SLAPPs against some local community members.
      I thought life, land, clean water and clean air are more precious than gold. However, people in the government have different opinion. No wonder they are very kind to foreign investment by selling our rich land to greedy businesses,  "legitimating" company's illegal mining to dig the gold and leave the damage. 
       Ironic, both of NMR (which is a part of Colorado based Newmont, the world's most profitable gold mining company) and PT MSM operate less than 8 years. Indeed the projects sacrifice the whole life of local community.