The Jakarta Globe, October 31, 2012
Aburizal’s Finished With Mudslide: Golkar
A senior Golkar Party figure has claimed that the political bloc’s chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, has settled all outstanding claims relating to the 2006 East Java mudflow for which his company had been blamed and agreed to pay compensation.
If the claim that Aburizal’s company, Lapindo Brantas, has fulfilled its commitments following the disaster in the town of Sidoarjo is confirmed, it will remove a major hurdle in the businessman’s quest for the presidency in 2014.
“Regarding the Lapindo issue, it’s clear that Aburizal Bakrie has settled it amicably,” Golkar treasurer Setya Novanto said on the sidelines of the party’s national congress in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The 2013 State Budget passed by the House of Representatives last week indicated that the government would continue to give money to victims of the mudflow, despite claims not yet proven in court that it was the responsibility of Lapindo Brantas, a private company.
The government earlier proposed that Rp 2.26 trillion ($235 million) from state coffers be earmarked to the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS), an ad hoc body created to contain the mudflow and relocate victims. It is unclear what the final total is.
The budget showed that some of the funds would be used to purchase land and buildings outside the areas immediately affected by the mudflow, including in the villages of Besuki, Kedungcangkring and Pejarakan, and nine communities spread around the wards of Siring, Jatirejo and Mindi.
The funds will also be used to relocate residents in 65 community units spread across nine wards and villages, which the government says are all outside the zones affected by the disaster.
Money is also earmarked to “rescue the economic and social life” of the community around the impacted area while some funds are directed at efforts to further contain the flow of mud.
The government has already spent Rp 3.26 trillion on the BPLS and this year earmarked another Rp 1.6 trillion.
“I think it will all be settled soon. The situation in the field is also already conducive [to a conclusion] and there’s no problem,” Setya said.
Looking forward to the 2014 election, Setya said he hoped that all Golkar regional leaders would rally around the push to win the legislative and presidential elections.
“The aim of this national congress is to encourage regional leaders to run programs in their regions and to carry out everything that had been decided in the congress,” the party official said.
While refusing to acknowledge that the mudflow was a direct result of its gas drilling activities, Lapindo Brantas had agreed to compensate victims and acquire the land immediately impacted by the disaster.
But Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said in June that Lapindo Brantas had only paid Rp 2.9 trillion in compensation out of the Rp 3.8 trillion it was ordered to pay.
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Anis Matta, who led the plenary session at which the House approved next year’s state budget, refused to comment last week when asked why the state was earmarking more money for the disaster.
Lapindo Brantas has long denied it was the cause of the mudflow, instead blaming an earthquake in Yogyakarta, hundreds of kilometers to the east.
Representatives of victims of the mudflow have not yet commented on the claim that Aburizal’s duty has been fulfilled.
( Yup.., believe it or not, at least I don't untill we hear from the victims of the mudflow) siK
wo 31 okt 2012 - 6:16
ja: eerst zien, dan geloven......
