The government needs to explain clearly and honestly why it wants to allow miners to renew contracts more than two years before they expire. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said’s recent suggestion that contracts ought to be extended up to 10 years before their expiry makes little sense.

Such a move seems to only satisfy demands from Freeport-McMoRan, which has announced that it would proceed with its plan to invest a total of $17 billion to turn its Grasberg copper and gold mining complex into the world’s biggest underground mine after 2016, while also building a copper smelter in Gresik, East Java.

Freeport’s current deal is due to expire in 2021.

The government should not be under pressure to quickly extend Freeport’s contract just because it has announced to invest big and build a smelter.

While we should welcome foreign investment, especially as huge as Freeport’s, and we agree that every company needs certainty on its investment, it’s the government’s duty to review carefully and comprehensively whether the investment really benefits the country and its people as a whole — in this case because it’s in Papua, the native Papuans.

Contract extensions as big as Freeport’s have always been a controversial issue among the public. We are not demanding the contract not be extended; we simply want transparency.

Despite Freeport’s claims that it has contributed trillions of rupiah directly and indirectly — on top of the government’s disbursement of trillions in special autonomy funds over the years — the big question remains: Why are Papuans still among Indonesia’s poorest, despite these huge investments?

Where has the money gone?

Only honesty and transparency will quash suspicion surrounding Freeport’s renewed contract.

The post Editorial: Sunshine Needed on Sweetheart Deals appeared first on The Jakarta Globe.

Source: The Jakarta Globe