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Chris McCall
Jakarta, Aug 24: Foreign mining firms should not assume Indonesia's government and military will come to their aid if they upset local communities where they operate, mines and energy minister Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said on Tuesday.
"Totally no. That kind of approach should be left behind," he told Reuters.
"In the future, companies cannot rely too much towards the government when they have problems with the community.
"In the past, if there was a problem with the community it was very easy to ask for the support from government, from the military to solve this kind of problem."
Kuntoro was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a new compendium of Indonesian mining.
Earlier he told industry representatives that despite the economic crisis, Indonesia had good prospects for future mineral development but needed foreign help to do it.
Pointing to the massive risks concerned and the decades it could take some projects to see a return, Kuntoro said it was in the interest of firms to get on wellwith locals.
"Community relations must be an enduring management priority...Usually they are in a remote area so they have to be sensitive to the needs of the people in that area."
Much of Indonesia's mineral wealth lies in outlying regions, where local people frequently complain that they derive few of the benefits of the resources.
Foreign mining firms have in the past been accused of ignoring local community needs and using Indonesian security forces to stifle complaints about their operations.
New legislation passing through parliament will introduce major changes to the legal framework in which foreign mining firms operate in Indonesia.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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