Jakarta - Dozens of Indonesian victims of an industrial
accident sought refuge inside the Dutch embassy in Jakarta Wednesday,
as hundreds of others rallied outside the presidential palace to
demand speedier compensation for their properties.
About 70 victims set up camp outside the embassy, claiming that
they have no other place to live since a mud volcano buried their
homes in 2006.
'We have repeatedly held a dialogue with the government, but
there was lack of seriousness to resolve the problems,' protest
coordinator Sumitro told Kompas.com online news portal. 'We will
continue waiting here, despite the rain and heat.'
They came from several villages in the East Java district of
Sidoardjo, about 600 kilometres east of Jakarta, where a firm
drilling a gas well hit an underground mud volcano in May 2006.
The oozing sludge spread uncontrollably to bury homes, factories,
railway tracks and roads.
More than 50,000 people living in 12 villages were displaced.
The company, PT Lapindo Brantas, is controlled by the family of
business tycoon and politician Aburizal Bakrie, who is the current
welfare minister. It was accused of not installing mandatory safety
casings in the lower section of the drill hole, which could have
prevented the mud from escaping to the surface.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on Nirwan Bakrie, the
minister's younger brother, to pay the outstanding restitution to the
victims.
'The president ordered the process of payment on compensation be
immediately completed,' presidential spokesman Andi Malarangeng said
after a meeting on the issue Wednesday.
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, but the company reneged.
In September, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government had
given up all hope to stop the mud. Various attempts to halt the mud
flow were made, included building a network of dams, channeling
some of the mud into the sea, dropping huge concrete balls into the
crater, but all failed.
The company argued 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.
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