Indonesia’s Catholic Church has rejected President Joko Wido-do’s plan to allow religious organisations to manage mining deposits whose concessions have been withdrawn from companies. Last week Jokowi – as the president is known at home – signed a decree to make the proposal official, as a gesture of appreciation for the contribution made by religious groups to Indonesia’s struggle for independence, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said.
In 2022, the president, whose term will end in October, had announced that he would revoke a number of mining permits because the concessions were being developed too slowly. Bahlil said that religious organisations are given the opportunity to take over the concessions to improve the welfare of the community. But religious organisations do not have the capacity for exploration and exploitation, nor the funds to propose mining investments.
Criticism has come from the Church and various groups in society, including environmentalists. ‘I don’t know how or who others will respond to this issue presented by the president,’ Card. Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmod- jo, Archbishop of Jakarta, said yesterday.
‘But the Indonesia Bishops’ Conference and the Indonesian Catholic Church will never accept the offer to manage mining projects because it is not the domain of the Church.” ‘Our pastoral work in each archdiocese and within the Bishops’ Conference has always been very clear. And there has never been involvement in mining projects,’ the cardinal added, addressing the media as he left the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
There have often been conflicts with large companies that have appropriated land be-longing to local people. And some children have died after falling into abandoned mine shafts.