They Do Not Enjoy Prosperity

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Zaiwan of Namang village, West Bangka regency, monitors new plant growth at a former mine on Thursday (9/1/2020). Successful efforts to rehabilitate the mine must involve the local community.

The life of the locals in a coal-mining region in South Kalimantan has not changed much since before the local coal mine began operating. They have yet to taste prosperity.

On Saturday (4/1/2020), several locals of Makmur Mulia village, Satui district, Tanah Bumbu regency had a chat at the verandah of Sahruji’s house. They were talking about the village road that was still damaged.

Sahruji’s house is located in neighborhood unit (RT) 006 in hamlet 2, Makmur Mulia village. The wooden house is located right beside a big pool of greenish water, formerly a coal mining hole around 50 meters deep.

The 200-meter-long access road toward the houses in RT 006, hamlet 2, was still a dirt road. Two spots on the road are prone to landslides from nearby former coal mining holes.

Sahruji said that nine families would lose access if a landslide occurred. “It is the only access road we have as our village is surrounded by mining holes,” he said.

The nine houses located within the circle of mines are generally modest wooden houses with unpainted walls and rusty iron sheet roofing. Only one house is made of concrete. Many of them have brick walls without cement plaster.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

A makeshift barge is used in illegal tin mining activities off the coast of Sampur Beach on Friday (10/1/2020) in Bukit Intan district, Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Belitung. The illegal activity has diminished the local fish population, affecting the livelihood of fishermen.

Nothing has changed

Makmur Mulia resident H Kaspul, 45, said that nothing had changed in the locals’ lives since before the coal mine operated until its closure. “Since before there was a coal mine, our life has stayed the same,” said the traveling peddler.

He said the coal mine in hamlet 2 of Makmur Mulia village was established in around 2010. Some local houses were torn down to make way for it. The owners chose to leave their houses for many years after receiving compensation for their land, homes and farms from middlemen.

These people left as it was becoming impossible to stay when mining activities got too close to their houses. “The payment was less than the property’s true value. [The house owners] did not make any profit [in the compensation payment]. After moving out of their houses, they might not be able to find new houses of similar value,” Kaspul said.

Apart from the potentially cut-off access road, the clean water supply is also threatened.

When the mine was still operating several years ago, Sahruji said, locals received compensation for air and noise pollution. After the mine was closed, locals began to feel the impact of the environmental damage. Apart from the potentially cut-off access road, the clean water supply is also threatened.

Locals then use water in the mining hole for bathing and washing. Water from the pool is distributed to water tanks at homes. For drinking and cooking, Kaspul said that locals purchased water from a water depot. “Clean water supply from PDAM [state tap-water company] is only available in the middle of the night sometimes. We cannot depend on it, as it is only available sometimes,” Kaspul said.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Sand is mined on Wednesday (8/1/2020) at a former illegal tin mine near Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang municipality, Bangka Belitung Islands province. Bangka Belitung has seen a growing number of open pits for mining sand in the last five years, reaching up to 12,000 pits.

Forced to sell land

In Mulawarman village, Tenggarong Seberang district, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, 63-year-old Ngadinah used to own a house and 2 hectares of land. She purchased it after arriving there from Pati, Central Java, in a transmigration program in 1981.

Since 2001, many mining companies have conducted surveys in Mulawarman village for exploration activities once they attained mining concessions. Locals’ lands, including Ngadinah’s, was bought. Mining activities began in 2004.

From the money obtained through selling her property, Ngadinah bought 2 hectares of land in Kota Bangun district, Kutai Kartanegara, some 110 kilometers away from Mulawarman village. She was forced to buy land in Kota Baru as much of the land in Tenggarong Seberang had been turned to coal mining concession areas. As it was located too far away, Ngadinah cannot take care and use the land in Kota Baru.

In the end, Ngadinah and her family relied on 200 square meters of land leftover near her former home. She planted rambutan, cassava and chili pepper there. “We plant anything on empty lands for a living,” she said on Sunday (5/1/2020).

Development studies lecturer Sri Murlianti of Mulawarman University’s faculty of social and political sciences said that mining activities still affected locals living around mine holes, even after the mining activities had ended. She said that the government should conduct a strict survey before issuing mining licenses to prevent local residential areas from being affected.

“Many mining locations are found in transmigration areas. This is ironic. The government brought them there and then issued mining permits at the same locations. Once the mining activities ended, locals still suffered difficult lives as the land would not be as good as it used to be,” Sri said.