The eyes of Jumaidi, 36, and Salahsiah, 31, were swollen from crying. The couple was still mourning the death of their eldest daughter, Nurul Huda Aulia. The 11-year-old girl was killed on the morning of Nov. 20, when she fell into a pit at an abandoned mine.
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ARSIP KOMPAS
Ex-coal mining cavities, which have been abandoned and not reclaimed, are seen in Makroman village, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Sunday (18/11/2018). The mining activities, which disrupts land and water supply to the village, have damaged rice fields and fish ponds owned by Makroman farmers.
The eyes of Jumaidi, 36, and Salahsiah, 31, were swollen from crying. The couple was still mourning the death of their eldest daughter, Nurul Huda Aulia. The 11-year-old girl was killed on the morning of Nov. 20, when she fell into a pit at an abandoned mine.
Jumaidi and Salahsiah’s 25-square-meter home in Rapak Dalam subdistrict, Loa Janan Ilir district, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, was filled with grieving neighbors. Relatives arrived to the home one by one to pay Nurul their last respects.
Nurul was killed when she fell into a pit that had filled with water at an abandoned coal mine, located atop a hill around 1 kilometer from her home. She fell and drowned while she was washing her feet at the mine pit lake. Nurul could not save herself and lost her life.
Nurul had set out with five friends to take photographs near the lake. That Tuesday was a national holiday. Nurul and her friends, who are neighbors, left their homes in Rapak Dalam subdistrict at 7 a.m. Central Indonesian Time.
Nurul’s friend Dhini, 13, who witnessed the incident, said that they had only intended to exercise on that fateful morning, when one of them told the others that there was an emerald lake at the top of the hill, referring to the abandoned coal mine.
Nurul was the 32nd person who has been killed at an abandoned coal mine between 2011 and 2018. She was the third victim in the past month. About a week earlier, 13-year-old Ari Wahyu Utomo was killed on Nov. 11 in Bukit Raya village, Tenggarong Seberang district, Kutai Kartanegara. Alif Alfaroci, a student at the Tenggarong mining and geology vocational high school, was killed on Oct. 21 at an abandoned coal mine at Rapak Lembur village in Tenggarong district of the same regency.
Repeat incidents
Rahmawati, 41, is also familiar with the grief of losing a child. Four years ago, her second child, 10-year-old Muhammad Rayhan Saputra, was killed at an abandoned coal mine belonging to PT Graha Benua Etam (GBE) in Sempaja subdistrict, North Samarinda district, Samarinda.
Upon hearing the news of Nurul’s death, Rahmawati’s old wounds seemed to reopen. “My heart [bled] when I heard the news of another child dying t an abandoned mine,” she said. Rahmawati regretted that children were being killed at non-reclaimed mines.
Four years ago, after Rayhan was killed, Rahmawati refused to just let the incident pass. Accompanied by the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), Rahmawati went to Jakarta and met with Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar. “PT GBE then filled the abandoned mine, but nothing can bring my son back,” she said.
PT GBE president director Muhaimin refused to speak about the tragedy at the company’s mine. “You can find lots of data about it online,” was all he said.
Muhaimin said that the company had filled all their former mine sites, except one in Sempaja. All issues related to mining, Muhaimin said, fell under the East Kalimantan energy and mineral resources agency.
Jatam East Kalimantan activist Pradarma Rupang said that the neglect of government and authorities in enforcing the law was the true cause of the children’s deaths at abandoned mines. There was no concrete deterrent for recalcitrant companies, like revoking their business permits or other sanctions.
He said that of the 32 deaths at abandoned mines, only one case was settled at court: the case of 6-year-olds Dede Rahmad and Emaliya Raya, who were both killed on Dec. 24, 2011. At the time, the judicial panel sentenced the mining contractor to two months in prison and fined them Rp 1,000 (US 6.8 cents).
“However, [the ruling] was far from fair, as only the contractor’s night watchman who was on duty was punished, not the license holder or the company executives.” said Rupang.
East Kalimantan energy and mineral resources agency head Wahyu Widhi said that around 10 percent of all coal mining companies in East Kalimantan had neglected post-mining reclamation.
Jumaidi said he wanted the abandoned mine to be filled to prevent any more victims. “I am afraid that someone will go up there to play again, only to drown,” he said.
Without serious efforts from the government and mining companies, the tragedies that took the lives of Nurul and 31 other people will reoccur.
