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Greenpeace slings mud over Indonesia mudflow disaster
Environmental group Greenpeace yesterday dumped 700 kg of mud at Indonesia's welfare ministry in protest against the government's handling of a mudflow disaster.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 September 28, 2006
Jakarta: Environmental group Greenpeace yesterday dumped 700 kg of mud at Indonesia's welfare ministry in protest against the government's handling of a mudflow disaster.
A business group owned by the family of Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie holds a controlling stake in Lapindo Brantas, the company blamed for the mud oozing unchecked from an exploratory oil well in Sidoarjo in East Java province.
The firm has denied the mud is directly linked to the drilling operation.
The mud has swamped four villages over an area larger than Monaco, displacing more than 10,000 people and highlighting the chequered environmental practices in exploiting resources in Indonesia.
Police looked on as Greenpeace activists poured buckets of black-greyish mud taken from the site of the disaster at the gate of the welfare ministry in the capital, Jakarta.
"It's a symbolic move. It's utterly shameless for the minister to distance himself from the disaster when his corporate group owns the controlling shares of this operation," Greenpeace Southeast Asia director Emmy Hafild said.
Hafild said the government had not done all it could to mitigate the disaster and called for steel barriers to be built to contain the mud.
She said the government must force Lapindo and its affiliates to shoulder all costs for the evacuation and compensation of the villagers as well as containment and rehabilitation.
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