The regional elections are right around the corner. While the political climate continues to heat up, people seem to forget that Jakarta is not the only region having an election this week.
Though Jakarta holds a special place in national politics, it is not wise to undermine what are at stake in other regional elections.
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Mining business in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi is one of the issues.
Local governments have been entangled in the mining business management and permit for a long time.
You may have heard about the 27 children died in abandoned coal pits in East Kalimantan, the 61 people died in tin mining sites in Bangka Belitung, the trauma of local residents and huge financial loss suffered by local farmers caused by massive mining activities that are legalized by local governments.
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Coal pits in East Kalimantan where locsl children died. (Photo: doc. Jatam Kaltim)
Change of regional leaders should give hopes and solutions for the people living in mining sites, but unfortunately hopes seem to remain as mere hopes.
Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) published a report revealing that there is a sudden increase in the number of granted mining permits in some regions during regional elections season.
This indicates some kind of political games going on between politicians and mining businesses. To make it worse, most regions with prominent mining sites have only one candidate running for office, making it a sure-win when it comes to money politics.
Take Kutai Kartanegara regency as example. In 2009, the local government released 93 mining operation permits (IUP), but in 2010 when regional election was about to be held, the number went up drastically to 191 permits a year.
Belu Regency in West Nusa Tenggara province is another case. In 2010, just a year after the General Elections, there were 54 IUP granted, while during the previous year there were only seven IUP granted.
Similar thing happened in Tanah Bumbu regency of South Kalimantan, West Kutai regency of East Kalimantan, Tebo regency of Jambi, Musi Bayuasin regency of South Sumatra, Central Bengkulu regency of Bengkulu province, and many more.
Merah Johansyah, the national coordinator of Jatam, said that mining permits are not the only things on sale during regional elections season. Politicians also sell forest land conversion permits and land clearing permits for palm oil plantations, which in the long run create environmental and social problems in the area.
Anti-graft agencys report on potential conflicts of interest in 2015 election funding found that it took Rp 20-30 billion to run for Mayor or Regent and Rp 20-100 billion to run for Governor, depending on the region. Meanwhile, the candidates average wealth, based on their official reports, was only Rp 6.7 billion. Thus, to cover the campaign cost, candidates need to seek sponsors, both legally or illegally.
The report also shows the connection between regional elections to mining businesses. Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam was named suspect 2016 for mining permit bribery case in , Former Tanah Laut Regent Adriansyah was jailed in 2015 for a mining permit bribery case, Former Buol Regent Amran Batalipu was sentenced to 7.5 years in jail in 2013 for an oil extraction permit related bribery case and Former Toli-Toli Regent Saleh Batilan was reported last month over his involvement in alleged forest conversion bribery case.
Strong political support behind mining companies makes their position unshakable. The cash splurged to get the political support buys them the freedom to dredge mining products even though their activities harm local communities.
Other deadly coal pits in East Kalimantan (Photo: doc. Jatam Kaltim)
Even worse, it seems that their influence reaches the authorities in national level. In East Kalimantan, reports of human rights violations have been sent by activists to Environment and Forestry Ministry, Coordinating Legal and Security Ministry, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Presidential Staff Office, yet nothing happened.
And the regional elections doesn't make the problems betteras the democracy party transforms into an opportunity to create deals benefitting politicians and mining businesses.
It seems that we cannot expect the government to defend the people anymore.
Maybe there are only two things we can do to stop this: to always be strong in protecting our lands, and to vote more carefully.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect Brilio's.