Indonesian mudflow victims demand compensation

Jakarta - Hundreds of Indonesians left homeless by an uncontrollable mudflow caused by an industrial accident staged a protest outside the presidential palace Tuesday, demanding immediate compensation for their losses. More than 1,000 people from several villages marched outside the presidential palace, after many of them had stayed overnight at Jakarta's Istiqlal Grand mosque, about 200 metres from the presidential palace. Some of them had arrived from the site of the disaster at Sidoardjo, about 650 kilometres east of Jakarta, early Tuesday. The protestors demanded an immediate payment of the remaining 80 per cent of promised compensation for their homes and fields buried in the mud. It was the latest in series of rallies by the mudflow victims and the protestors. They are demanding talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the issue. 'We are going to stay in Jakarta until our demand is met,' Mardi, one of the victims, was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency. More than 15,000 people have been displaced since late May 2006, when the firm PT Lapindo Brantas apparently hit an underground mud volcano while drilling a gas well at a depth of 3,000 metres. The oozing sludge spread over more than 600 hectares and inundated villages, factories, railway tracks and toll roads. The government's attempts to halt the mud flow by building a network of dams, channeling some of the mud into the sea, dropping huge concrete balls into the crater - and even using paranormals claiming to possess magic powers - have all failed. Lapindo, controlled by the family of business tycoon and politician Aburizal Bakrie, the welfare minister, was accused of not installing mandatory safety casings in the lower section of the drill hole, which would have prevented the mud from escaping. President Yudhoyono in 2007 ordered Lapindo to pay 20 per cent of the compensation immediately, with the remaining 80 per cent due by November this year. However, the company has failed to meet its obligations and disburse the rest of the payments. Bakrie has insisted that the initial mud blowout was a 'natural disaster' triggered by an earthquake in Central Java two days before, a claim discounted by international geologists. Police investigators say Lapindo may be criminally negligent because it failed to install the safety casings at the lower depths of the drilling shaft to prevent leakage. Several company officials are under investigation in connection with the case, but it was not clear when they would be brought to court for trial.