Lapindo told to find jobs for 3,000

Sidoarjo, NU Online
Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno asked PT Lapindo Brantas on Monday (2/10) to find work for more than 3,000 people left jobless by the hot mud flooding from the company's gas drilling site in Sidoarjo, East Java.

"In line with the conclusion of the limited cabinet meeting on Sept. 27, Lapindo has to be responsible for the fate of the 3,000 employees of 15 companies which have stopped their operations because of the mudflow, which has submerged not only housing areas but also many factories," he said. He cited the industrial zone of Porong as an example.

<>The minister said Lapindo should also pay nearly 1,500 additional workers of its own to ensure that the employees and their families could meet their daily needs.

"We hope Lapindo reemploys all the workers at its units in other areas to show its commitment to solving all the problems triggered by the mudflow, and pays Muslim workers one month's salary as a bonus to allow them to celebrate the coming Idul Fitri holiday," he said.

He emphasized that the annual bonus stipulated by a 1994 ministerial decree was compulsory and was part of management's corporate social responsibility to improve the social welfare of its workers.

"The government has cooperated with the joint team for the handling of Lapindo's mudflow and the East Java provincial authorities on the annual bonus and the workers' re-employment," he added.

The minister called on the management to pay the bonuses at least seven days before the Idul Fitri holiday, which falls on Oct. 24, 2006, to give workers time to go back to their home villages before the celebration.

Meanwhile, Sidoarjo Regent Win Hendrarso said Monday that residents affected by the hot mudflow had refused to be included in the transmigration program and sent to live outside Java. The government has determined that eight of the villages affected by the mudflow are no longer fit for human habitation.

The regent said it would not be appropriate to relocate the residents to Riau province, as proposed, because they had jobs in the community before the disaster struck.

"Most of the affected people have skills in such areas as farming and silversmithing. Some are even quite successful businessmen. We reject the proposal of relocating residents to Riau," Win told The Jakarta Post.

The plan was disclosed earlier by the manpower ministry.

Win said the local administration was still assessing the planned relocation, taking into account the differing views of residents.

"However, we have ordered the villagers to immediately vacate their homes because the government has already determined that the area is dangerous. We have been given a three-month deadline to vacate the area," he said.

A community leader in Renokenongo village, Souda, said the affected residents had rejected the option of joining the transmigration program in Riau.

"The survey indicates most of the residents are against the option. They just want PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. to compensate them for their land and houses, and don't want to be involved in other arrangements," he said.

The head of the National Mudflow Mitigation task force in Sidoarjo, Basuki Hadimulyono, said his office would not force the residents to take part in the program, and that an assessment was being conducted at the moment to determine compensation for the residents.

"Residents have the right to refuse if they don't want to be relocated. We are only offering them other options," said Basuki. (tjp/dar)