Richard Ness : Blog : Verdict Comes Down Tomorrow
Verdict Comes Down Tomorrow - 23 Apr 2007
by Eric
Tomorrow, the District Court of Manado (Sulawesi, Indonesia), will hand down their decision on whether or not my Dad is guilty of polluting the environment. If my Dad is found guilty he will face a three year jail sentence and a $60,000 fine. My Dad is an innocent man. And I am his nervous son. Let me tell you why he’s innocent and why I’m nervous.
This case exists because a group of regulators and the police abused their authorities to override the legal and scientific facts that conclusively showed that Buyat Bay is clean. To date, over 30 individual studies including the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO), Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and numerous other institutions have categorically vindicated my Dad. The Buyat Bay case is a perfect example of how politics can influence police and prosecutorial efforts in Indonesia.
The evidence against my Dad essentially relies on two dubious pieces of evidence, police samples showing elevated levels of mercury and arsenic and a highly flawed technical report. The case took ugly turns from the beginning. When police investigators took samples, each split with Newmont, somehow the 24 samples taken that day, as the record shows, magically grew to 34 in court. In addition, the police samples found levels of mercury and arsenic that were vastly different than every other accredited lab analysis, including studies done by WHO and CSIRO.
A second piece of evidence central to the prosecution’s case was the technical report, which manipulated the data Newmont was required to keep as part of its normal operating procedures. If one has a sense of humor about these things, probably the most telling and egregious errors in the report is the calculation used for daily fish consumption among local residents. The area residents of Buyat Bay apparently eat fish 10 times a day and, using their calculations, that equates to 77 large cans of tuna for a family of 4 a day. What the report wants you to believe is that there are people somewhere in Indonesia that eat 10% of their body weight in fish everyday, in addition to everything else they consume. Another error in the report that is also very telling is a so-called ASEAN standard that does not exist – nor is it similar to any other standard from any internationally recognized environmental body. Yet, it is part of the cornerstone of evidence against my Dad.
In spite of how weak the prosecution’s evidence is and the overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary, I am still highly concerned that politics, not justice is driving the case.
Although the trial seems like it has been running fairly, the initial investigation was not. For example, during the initial investigation stages my Dad was denied the opportunity to enter evidence in his defense, even though it is his right to do so. Also, none of the experts he recommended were consulted to explain the complicated data to the investigators. Furthermore, the investigation did not follow the law. My Dad filed charges against the police for its illegal maneuvers. He won and the entire case against Newmont and my Dad was thrown out. Even though the initial habeas corpus decision was binding for all parties and was un-appealable, months later the Supreme Court not only heard an appeal to that decision, they overturned it. Highlighting the fact again that this case is not about pollution, but is political in nature.
Recently, Indonesian environmental NGO, WALHI, felt the need to throw there political weight around too and filed an additional civil lawsuit against Newmont. They also started a letter campaign asking its supporters to try to influence the judges on the current criminal case. This is outrageous, if not illegal.
The NGOs, regulators and the police have managed to leverage the emotional and sensational appeal of an environmental issue to target my Dad and successfully impose this unfair legal case on him and our family. The net result has been disastrous, not just for my family but also for the people of Indonesia. Since the onset of the Buyat case, the growth rate of foreign investment has dwindled to almost zero, and at the same time the unemployment rate has soared to more than 11%. The verdict on Tuesday will show if there is a will to give truth a place it deserves in Indonesia, and whether or not the judicial system has the courage to act in the interest of the people rather than further promoting the narrow views of a few politically motivated individuals.