Eben Kirksey and Jack Grimston
BRITAIN'S biggest company, BP, has angered human rights groups by becoming
involved with Indonesia's brutal security forces in an attempt to protect a
£1 billion gas production scheme.
The company is using officers from the country's feared Mobile Police
Brigade (Brimob) - which has been accused of numerous human rights abuses -
to guard explosives at the Tangguh project in the province of West Papua,
which is due to begin production in 2007.
Earlier this month the company also held a seminar in Jakarta with army and
police commanders to discuss the level of protection that they would give
the project.
Indonesian security forces have been condemned by Amnesty International for
torture, extra-judicial executions and "disappearances" in West Papua.
Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict over the past 40 years.
The company claims that a new "community-based" security policy will help it
to gain the trust of local inhabitants, minimising the chance of violence
breaking out and provoking full-scale intervention by the military.
Human rights groups, however, believe the policy has little chance of
working in West Papua. Lucia Withers, Indonesia researcher for Amnesty,
said: "Can BP really provide security? The situation is fundamentally
unstable and you have a wild card in the form of a very powerful and almost
totally unaccountable military."
The allegations over Tangguh threaten BP with similar embarrassment to that
caused by its investment in Colombia, when it was criticised for links to an
army accused of collaborating with paramilitary death squads.
In its £100m relaunch in 2000, BP used the slogan "beyond petroleum" to
re-brand itself as an ethically and environmentally responsible company. Its
policy states: "We must work to ensure that our actions do not negatively
impact human rights."
BP's activities in Indonesia may also cause political problems in Britain,
where the company has close links with new Labour. It employs several former
aides of Tony Blair, including Anji Hunter, a former special adviser. Lord
Browne, BP's chief executive, is a Labour peer.
West Papua is the size of France but has a population of only 1.7m. It
contains the world's second largest rainforest and has vast mineral
resources, including gold, as well as gas reserves. In contrast to
well-armed guerrillas in other parts of the world, many of West Papua's
rebels wield only bows and arrows.
The security forces have been accused of using nationalist movements all
over Indonesia as a pretext for obtaining "protection" money from companies.
Some 80% of the army's revenue is believed to come from these sources.
BP's community policy aims to avoid this by relying largely on locally
recruited security guards - 65 have already been trained - to keep the army
presence to a minimum.
But human rights groups believe the temptation of Tangguh, likely to become
one of Indonesia's biggest foreign currency earners, may be too difficult
for the army to resist.
The company training the new guards, however, is run by Harianto, a former
brigadier general in the Indonesian marines.
Some critics believe the army may have already staged violent incidents as a
pretext for intervention. One occurred in 2001, when five police officers
were killed.
After the shootings, Brimob launched an operation, called Sweep and Crush,
in which they executed or tortured to death at least eight people.
However, Barnabas Mawen, a pseudonym for one of the group which killed the
policemen, told The Sunday Times that Indonesian military agents had
supplied him with bullets, food and money before the attack. BP said its
security policy was designed to minimise the likelihood of military
involvement.
"BP's goal is to create a security system based on understanding and consent
where responsibilities are clearly defined," said a spokesman. "The
Indonesian security forces will have a very constructive role. Exactly what
size and presence of the Indonesian security forces will be involved will be
for them to determine."