Freeport miners stay home after shootings

Tom Allard, Jakarta
July 16, 2009
EMPLOYEES at the Freeport-McMoRan gold and copper mine have been ordered to stay at home after another series of shootings on the road where Australian Drew Grant was murdered at the weekend.

The latest attacks came as analysts pointed to a rivalry between Indonesia's military and police as a likely source of the violence, as the two battle for a share of the multimillion-dollar stream of informal protection payments to secure the enormous concession.

An attack yesterday afternoon injured two police officers, while a Freeport vehicle was riddled with bullet holes on Tuesday afternoon, although there were no injuries.

Since Saturday, at least five ambushes have been launched, killing three people and injuring several others in the worst violence at the controversial mine in seven years.

Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said several hundred workers who live in Timika have been told to stay away from the mine "until further notice".

While there has been a marked upgrade in security around Freeport's Grasberg mine in West Papua, including the deployment of the Indonesian police's crack counter-terrorism unit and mobile brigade, the attacks are being launched with virtual impunity.

The sophistication of the deadly ambushes, the apparent use of military-issue weapons and the ability of the assailants to avoid detection has increased speculation that the perpetrators are either members of the security services or have been trained by them.

Eben Kirksey, a University of California academic who has researched previous violence at Freeport, including the murder of two US teachers in 2002, points to a dispute between the military and police in West Papua.

"The jury is out but there's clearly a motivation for elements of the Indonesian military," he said.

"Since a 2007 decree, the police are in charge of security at Freeport and they have been paid handsomely for it … $8 million last year according to filings (to US financial regulators) by Freeport. The TNI (Indonesian armed forces) wants a slice of that pie."

West Papua police chief Bagus Ekodanto yesterday confirmed that bullets used in all the attacks were identical and came from a factory in Bandung that manufactures exclusively for Indonesia's security forces.

But Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the origin of the bullets did not necessarily point to the identity of the assailants.

"That could be provided from captured rifles from the past. It's not clear that it's active military and police who are now involved," he said. "Let's wait for the result of the investigation to see if it is confirmed."

Mr Sudarsono said there were several possibilities for who was behind the attacks.

Yet none of the scenarios he outlined involved the separatist rebels who police and military officers originally suspected.

Mr Sudarsono said it was well known that there was a "lucrative" trade in illegally mining the tailings from the mine run by criminal syndicates.

"You can earn between $US3000 and $US3500 per month," he said. "My own speculation, and that's pure speculation, is that these are criminal groups from inside (West) Papua and also outside of (West) Papua who have seen this as a lucrative business."

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/world/freeport-miners-stay-home-after-shootings-20090715-dlge.html