ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) urges the Indonesian Government to stop production at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP).
This appeal was conveyed after another work accident occurred in the industrial area, where the smelter furnace belonging to PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS), which is a subsidiary of the Tsingshan Group from China, exploded and caught fire on Sunday, December 24 2023, resulting in 19 people dying. The victims consisted of 11 Indonesian workers and 8 Chinese workers. The total number of workers affected by the PT ITSS smelter furnace explosion was 59 people.
“We urge the central government not to just remain silent. PT IMIP’s production must be stopped immediately, and strict sanctions must be imposed on PT IMIP, considering that there are quite a few victims and work accidents like this often occur. “The government should not just campaign for nickel downstreaming with the wind of heaven for the profits obtained without looking at the reality on the ground, lives are being lost and life is miserable due to chaotic and chaotic areas,” emphasized Aulia Hakim, Head of Advocacy and Campaigns for Walhi Central Sulawesi, quoted Thursday, December 28 2023 .
Walhi noted that this incident was not the first time this had occurred in the nickel industrial area. On December 22 2022, 2 workers experienced a similar accident due to a smelter furnace explosion that occurred in the nickel industrial area belonging to PT Gunbuster Nickel Industri, a company from China that operates in North Morowali district.
On April 27 2023, two dumping workers belonging to PT Indonesia Guang Ching Nickel and Stainless Industry, which were also in the PT IMIP area, had a work accident that claimed the lives of Arif and Masriadi.
“Once again we see how workers are sacrificed in pursuit of profit alone, work accidents are caused by the provision of safety equipment that is never complied with by the company, plus arbitrary working hours regulations, chaotic work rotations, and also equipment that is operated uncontrolled. was the trigger for the accident to occur,” said Aulia.
The government closes its eyes and ears
According to Walhi, the central government and regional governments appear to be ignoring work accidents that occur.
According to Walhi Central Sulawesi’s records, during the 2022-2023 period, not a single company was given strict sanctions for work accidents that claimed the lives of workers. On the contrary, the company actually imposes sanctions on workers who demand their rights, such as the incident experienced by Minggu Bulu and Amirullah, they were both named suspects in the clash between workers on January 14 2023.
“They both became suspects as a result of their activities in advocating for the rights of other workers,” he explained.
IMIP Investment
IMIP grows with large capital, China–ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fun holds a 24% stake in PT Sulawesi Mining Investment (SMI), while Shanghai Decent controls 46.55% stake in PT SMI, plus some capital from foreign banks such as Bank of China , EXIM Bank of China, HSBC.
IMIP, which was inaugurated in 2013, has demonstrated its speed in gaining profits, as proven by making the Thingshan Group the largest company in the world in the field of nickel management. So PT IMIP obtained an investment of $10.20 billion with taxes and royalties paid to the state from 2015-2020 amounting to 306.87 billion rupiah (2015) increasing to 5.38 trillion rupiah (2020).
Employment issues at IMIP are in line with major concerns in Indonesia regarding the environmental impact of the nickel industry. According to a Brookings Institute report in September last year, Indonesia’s nickel sector is “highly carbon intensive and environmentally damaging,” due to its dependence on coal.
More than 8,700 hectares of rainforest have been destroyed in North Morowali district, where IMIP is headquartered, since 2000, according to analysis by Greenpeace Indonesia, with trees cleared to make way for mines, smelting plants and the infrastructure needed to support them.
Downstreaming Needs Improvement
Meanwhile, General Chairperson of the Central Leadership Council of the Indonesian National Student Movement (GMNI) Arjuna Putra Aldino assessed that the loss of life due to the explosion at the nickel smelter at IMIP reflected poor work safety procedures in the industrial sector.
According to Arjuna, work accidents that cause fatalities are repeated incidents in the smelter processing industrial area and there has never been an evaluation.
“This means that the downstreaming that is being touted is far from perfect. Needs repair. “It needs to be evaluated so that it doesn’t cause repeated casualties,” said Arjuna
According to Trend Asia records, as many as 53 smelter workers in Indonesia died in the period 2015 to 2022, including at IMIP. As many as 13 of them are workers from China.
Therefore, according to Arjuna, there needs to be a guarantee of work safety, not just compensation. However, the State ensures that companies carry out work safety procedures.
“The state must ensure that companies comply with work safety procedures, so that people do not become victims. If you don’t comply, you will be punished. “It’s not just about giving compensation and then it’s done,” added Arjuna.
The applicable sanctions refer to Law Number 1 of 1970 concerning Work Safety, where the criminal penalty for work accident violations is a maximum of three months with a maximum fine of IDR 100,000. In the end, the settlement pattern for companies whose workers were victims was limited to providing compensation, compensation and condolence money.
Arjuna views that downstreaming should not only be profit-oriented, the State is tasked with ensuring that companies running smelters carry out good work safety procedures, so that the people are not sacrificed in the name of National Strategic Projects.
“Don’t just be aggressive in looking for profit. But ignore the safety of the workers. “The government should also not only think about profits, but must ensure that companies implement a good K3 system,” said Arjuna
With so many repeated incidents, Arjuna believes that the government is weak in monitoring companies’ compliance with K3 procedures. On the other hand, the regulations that apply to procedural violations are considered to have no improvements so they do not have a deterrent effect.
“This means that downstreaming needs improvement, such as in the field of K3 supervision, regulations to protect workers must also be strengthened. So don’t talk about downstreaming being perfect anymore, just continue. “It really needs improvement,” said Arjuna
Arjuna assesses that so far the downstream program has been carried out haphazardly to attract investment without paying serious attention to aspects of human rights such as labor protection and social impacts on the surrounding community. So far we have only boasted about increasing nickel exports, electric cars, becoming a battery center, increasing foreign exchange, but we turn a blind eye to a number of these achievements coming from a place that has claimed dozens of lives and is drenched in the blood of the nation’s sons and daughters.
“It’s time for future leaders to not just talk about downstreaming. But downstreaming upholds human rights. “Downstreaming needs improvement, it is not enough to continue,” concluded Arjuna. (AT Network)
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