AMBON/SURABAYA/JAKARTA, Indonesia — Criminal investigations of environmental advocates in Indonesia continue to undermine civil society in the world’s third-largest democracy, with two anti-mining activists the latest to be hauled before police following a routine demonstration.

Investigators with the cybercrime directorate of Indonesia’s national police on Aug. 27 and Sep. 9 summoned university students Christina Rumalatu and Thomas Madilis for questioning over a potential violation of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (ITE).

The ITE law was introduced in 2008 and amended in 2016 to regulate online activities as millions of Indonesians accessed the internet for the first time on smartphones. Initially aimed at online crimes such as defamation, fraud and hacking, the ITE law has since faced widespread criticism for its overly broad application pertaining to free speech.

The criminal investigation of Christina was tied to her recent advocacy work following devastating flooding in late July in Halmahera, the largest island in North Maluku province and a major nickel mining hub.

Mongabay reported last month on flash floods and multiple landslides that affected several villages in Central and East Halmahera districts. The disaster forced at least 1,700 people to evacuate as a major arterial road was cut off by landslips, further isolating remote communities in Halmahera.

Environmental advocates have linked flooding and other environmental impacts to landscape changes underway across vast areas of the Maluku and Sulawesi regions of Indonesia, the locations of the world’s largest reserves of nickel used in the production of batteries and steel.

Between January 2019 and May 2022, Amnesty International documented 332 individuals who were charged under the ITE law. The dragnet has tied up dozens of advocates like Christina and Thomas in criminal proceedings, and sparked a trend of vexatious complaints by litigious individuals and organizations linked to politically powerful individuals. In 2015, a student was imprisoned for an unflattering commentary on social media about the city of Yogyakarta, a charge that a court ruled was a form of defamation.

Vebrina Monicha at Indonesia’s Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, known as KontraS, which was founded in 1998 after pro-democracy activists were abducted and murdered, said 304 advocates were subjected to criminal proceedings between 2019 and 2023, 83 of whom worked in the natural resources sector.

Haris Azhar, a lawyer, human rights activist and former KontraS coordinator, characterized criminal investigations against civil society as part of a rising trend under outgoing President Joko Widodo. Political scientists say the president, better known as Jokowi, has overseen the weakening of democratic norms since coming to power in 2014.

“The usual pattern involves intimidation, physical attacks, disruption of activities, criminalization,” said Haris, who himself faced criminal defamation charges brought by a Jokowi minister over his comments on a podcast about the official’s business activities; he was acquitted earlier this year.

Flood demonstration

On Aug. 1, members of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) together with three youth organizations — Enter Nusantara, the National Student Front (Front Mahasiswa Nasional), and the Nusa Tenggara Timur Youth Union — staged a planned demonstration in Jakarta.

At the event, Christina Rumalatu gave a speech criticizing environmental changes caused by PT Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), the production hub in Halmahera where nickel is separated from its ore in smelters.

“I suspect that IWIP might want to drive us out of our own land,” Christina said in the speech in August. “Why would IWIP destroy our forest? What is wrong with our farmers? What is the sin of our fishermen?”

The organizers called on IWIP to address the environmental impact in Halmahera and improve workplace safety, and requested accountability for the recent flooding that devastated nearby villages. Demonstrators also shouted down Suaidi Marasabessy, a retired army general from Maluku with links to the mining industry, whose office happens to be in the same building as IWIP’s Jakarta headquarters.

A video of Christina joining in the chants denouncing Marasabessy as a “useless general” later made the rounds on social media, and it was this that supporters of Marasabessy later submitted to police as evidence of criminal defamation under the ITE law.

Nickel odeon

Established in 2018, Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park is a joint venture between Huayou Group, Tsingshan Group and Zhenshi Group, three Chinese mining conglomerates.

The site has the capacity to process up to 30,000 metric tons of nickel a year, powered by 3,400 megawatts of electricity from coal-fired plants.

Local communities and environmental advocates say the rate of deforestation in nearby areas for new nickel ore extraction permits has potentially destabilized the ability of the local landscape to absorb heavy rainfall. Data from Global Forest Watch, a remote-sensing platform, showed North Halmahera district lost 13,500 hectares (33.400 acres) of old-growth forest from 2002-23.

The district lost almost 7% of its old rainforest during this period, according to the satellite data.

Heavy rains in late August led to flash floods that killed 13 people in the village of Rua, on the east of North Maluku’s Ternate Island, although this disaster was not attributed to nickel mining.

Al Farhat Kasman, a campaigner with Jatam, said the demonstration in Jakarta was in response to “the days-long flooding in Halmahera and Jatam’s latest report on environmental damage caused by IWIP operations.”

Jatam has documented numerous workplace accidents, with around 26 workers killed on site, since IWIP and PT Weda Bay Nickel began operating in 2018.

Muhammad Jamil, legal lead at Jatam, characterized the criminal investigation against the two advocates as part of wider government tactics to quell the capacity of civil society organizations to scrutinize the mining sector and to raise awareness of landscape damage.

Jamil added that the investigation against Christina ran contrary to provisions in the environmental protection law and Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution, which guarantees the right to good health in a decent environment.

“It’s the same pattern,” said Arko Tarigan, energy campaigner with Trend Asia, a watchdog group that monitors the clean energy transition across the continent. “Being reported to the police after protesting various environmental impacts and disasters that are suspected to be due to mining activities.”

Full court press

Lawyers from Indonesia’s Legal Aid Institute plus civil society groups Trend Asia, Jatam, the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) have contributed legal advice on the accusations levied against Christina and Thomas.

In addition, more than 30 civil society organizations and legal aid institutions have formed a united front around the two advocates, including the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Amnesty International, Auriga Nusantara Foundation, Forest Watch Indonesia, Greenpeace and Satya Bumi.

Several organizations based in eastern Indonesia have also joined, inlcuding the Jentera Student Representative Body (BPM), North Maluku Student Association (HIPMALUT), Save O Hangana Manyawa, Save Sagea and Simpul Jatam Malut. A legal aid team formed by the Gunung Tanah Coalition, which includes 27 lawyers, will provide Christina with pro bono representation.

“The advocacy team will provide comprehensive legal assistance to Christina, including attending every examination, submitting a request for a suspension of detention, and presenting mitigating witnesses,” said Muhamad Isnur, a lawyer with the team.

The civil society coalition visited the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in Jakarta on Sept. 9.

“We will try to provide protection as quickly as possible, especially if there is potential for intimidation, threats of violence, or attempts to criminalize the complainant,” Komnas HAM commissioner Hari Kurniawan said.

Similarly, Bahrul Fuad, commissioner at Komnas Perempuan, said his office would activate a rapid response plan, which forgoes a typical case review process that can take a fortnight.

Bahrul said Komnas Perempuan planned to recognize Christina as an environmental and human rights defender and coordinate with Komnas HAM and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) to expedite protection without the usual requirement of a police report.

The LPSK is a government-funded institution established under a 2006 law to provide legal protection to whistleblowers and victims of crime. It has the authority to relocate witnesses.

Supporters in eastern Indonesia have voiced public support for Christina, including a Sept. 11 demonstration in Dobo, the district seat of the Aru Islands.

“This is our position against the criminalization of activists who defend the community’s right to a healthy environment,” said Aldo Duganata, the organizer of the display of support. “If actions like this continue to occur, then what is the use of democracy?”

The Indonesian Catholic Student Association (PMKRI) gave a statement offering its backing to Christina; Indonesia is majority Muslim, but much of the country’s eastern residents are Christian.

“Christina’s efforts are noble, and we will stand with her until this report is withdrawn,” said Rikardus Redja of the PMKRI.

The Alifuru Student Movement (Gemafuru) based in the city of Ambon in Maluku province, said its members would continue to rally around the activist.

“We are Christina,” said Josua Ahwalam, a Sabuai Indigenous student. “If we don’t fight now, maybe in the future we will also be the next target of silencing.

“The use of the law to silence activists shows that the state is supporting environmental destruction and oppressing its own people,” he added.

Much of eastern Indonesia is today caught in the tension between international demand for raw materials used in new technologies and the need to preserve landscapes. Indonesia accounts for both the world’s largest reserves of nickel and its third-largest tropical forest estate.

“The transition to [electric vehicles] is an essential part of the phase out of fossil fuels. Yet IWIP is exacerbating the climate crisis by building 12 new captive coal plants to power its operations,” Brad Adams, executive director of Climate Rights International, wrote in a social media post about a new report by the organization.

“Even though there is abundant solar and wind capacity, IWIP’s coal emissions are planned to exceed the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from coal produced by Spain or Brazil.”

In 2022, Christina advocated for Bati Indigenous communities on Seram Island in the Maluku region following oil exploration by Australia-based Balam Energy. She also supports communities in Buru, Maluku’s third-largest island, against a geothermal site developed by Ormat Technologies, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Ormat operates the Sarulla geothermal site in West Sumatra province, Indonesia’s largest renewable energy power facility.

“The police should see the whole case in its entirety,” Andi Muttaqien, executive director of Satya Bumi, one of the groups supporting Christina, told Mongabay Indonesia. “It does not stand alone, there is a context behind it.”

Banner image: Student advocate Christina Rumalatu. Image by Christ Belseran/Mongabay Indonesia.

This story was reported by Mongabay’s Indonesia team and first published here and here on our Indonesian site on Sept. 5 and 18, 2024.

Indonesian nickel project harms environment and human rights, report says