"The Lapindo Mud Flow will remain mysterious" that's what I thought when I heard that Aburizal Bakrie the newly elected Chairman of Golkar Party said that Golkar will join the coalition government of President elect SBY for the next five years.The reason is because Bakrie & family are majority shareholders of PT Lapindo Brantas that violated the standard procedure for drilling oil in Sidoarjo, East Java in 2006, causing never ending Hot Mud flow that inundated large area of land and all its houses, offices, factories, forcing its inhabitants to refuge to other area.
Actually, there were indications that this case will be a mystery, the latest was the decision of East Java Police to stop investigation on PT Lapindo Brantas based on two Court verdicts rejecting two lawsuits against PT Lapindo, one by the Indonesian Environmental Agency (WALHI), and another one by the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH). Both verdicts were based on statements of scientists who considered the Mud Flow as natural phenomenon caused by huge earthquake that devastated the province of Jogyakarta earlier.
Last month the House of Representatives (DPR) has also declared that the Lapindo Mud Flow is a natural phenomenon. As a consequence, PT Lapindo Brantas will no longer be held responsible for the disaster, and the government will take over said responsibility.
For detailed media reports on the above, please click here, here, here and here.
Athough the actual cause of the Hot Mud Flow may be the natural phenemenon that hapened in area not far from Sidoarjo, however the fact shows that it was PT Lapindo Brantas that triggered the mud flow.
In order to know the real truth, it would be better to ask an international organization to conduct a thorough investigation and determine whether or not the Lapindo Mud Flow is a natural phenemenon or disaster caused by failure to comply with standard oil drilling procedure. Until then, this case will remain mysterious.
9 comments:
Looks like you are right Harry. This is getting burried like the vicitims and their world.
Duckham,
Unfortunately yes,
mysterious? really? ;)
Medco had comissioned a report by Neal Adams which made some pretty damming conclusions in regards to the Lapindo debacle.
You can get a copy here.
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2009/06/2009617134123752754.html
My spies within the Indonesian oil patch inform me that the well control experts (the same guys who put out the fires in Kuwait during the first gulf war) were released just a few days before they would have finished drilling a relief well.
You can speculate as to the reason.
If you're interested I did a post on the lapindo thing a few months back.
http://nothingisconnected.blogspot.com/2009/07/update-on-lapindo-thing.html
Rob,
The Mud Flow may have been a natural phenomenon as declared by the court, scientists seminar and DPR, but they should not ignore that Lapindo has not followed the proper oil drilling procedure.
If they used the required Casing in the process then they shouldn't be held responsible.
Pj,
Thanks a lot for referring the relevant sites. I'll check them out. I am sure that they will provide valuable information.
There are several truths. And the one which can be bought often prevails.
Colson,
Although I have to agree with what you have said, but deep down inside I hope that the real truth, that cannot be bought, will prevail.
Harry...
I think you will find that the mud extrusion is not a natural disaster that would have happened without the intervention of Lapindo.
Lapindo in essence admitted that it was responsible when it allowed / agreed when the president issued a regulation setting out how compensation was to be paid.
The mud extrusion resulted from human error. The idea that it occurred because of an earthquake and other natural phenomena have been dismissed, and in some cases dismissed as being fanciful.
What is interesting is that Aburizal Bakrie tossed 100s of billions of rupiah into buying the chairperson-ship of Golkar but will not instruct his family companies to do the right thing on the Lapindo and Sidoarjo fronts.
There needs to be questions asked of SBY as to why he has not been more forceful in / on this issue.
:D
Rob,
The so called 'natural phenomenon' i.e. hot mud flowing from beneath the earth, happened because Lapindo did not follow standard procedure for drilling oil.
They admitted this mistake when they agreed to pay compensation.
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