Page Text: … stolen from slackbastard blog …
On September 8, 2011, [ Indo Mines Ltd ] announced that it had “successfully manufactured the first iron ingots” from Kulon Progo. The company also claims that “URS Australia have completed an Initial Environmental and Social Scoping Study that identified no unmanageable community or environmental issues with the development of the Project”, although local farmers–especially members of the PPLP-KP (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai Kulon Progo/Coastal Farmers Association of Kulon Progo)–beg to differ.
Note that members of the local Indonesian ruling elite have significant investments in the project, and critics have been jailed for speaking out against it. In its report ‘Turning Critics into Criminals: The Human Rights Consequences of Criminal Defamation Law in Indonesia’ [ PDF ], Human Rights Watch notes that “Tukijo, a farmer in Kulon Progo regency of Yogyakarta, was convicted of criminal defamation in January 2010 for asking the head of his sub-district for information about the results of a land assessment”; similar proceedings have been used against other critics in an attempt to intimidate opposition to the project. In May Day of this year, Tukijo was again arrested/kidnapped by police. As I write: