Lapindo Sends Another Proxy to Gain Political Control Over Sidoarjo
Friday, 26 February, 2010 | 02:25 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Mining company under the politically-connected Bakrie Brothers group, Lapindo Brantas, sent on Thursday (25/2) another proxy to run for the seat of Sidoarjo Regent, to lead the region partly hit by the mud flood disaster caused by Lapindo operation.

Vice President Relation Yuniwati Teriyana declared her candidacy in a ceremony attended by residents, senior members of the community, and clerics, vowing the same promise to settle the compensation dispute between locals and the mining company, promoted by the first candidate from the company.

Bambang Prasetyo Widodo, Operation Manager of Lapindo Brantas has preceeded his superior when he registered his candidacy to the regional branch office of Golkar Party three weeks earlier.

Despite her connection with the mud flood, representatives of victims of the man-made disaster were on hand. A spokesman for the victims Koes Sulassono demanded the regent candidate’s attention on the conditions of the victims and frequently late installments of compensation.

The mud flood have swarmed, as of late 2009, about 10 square kilometers of land in Porong Subdistrict since the mud erupted from a gas drilling well in May 2006. More than 12,000 houses, dozens of factories and public facilities, and thousands of hectares of agriculture properties buried in the mud.

Lapindo denied responsibility for the losses, claiming the disaster as a natural one instead of man-made and forcing the government to agree with the argument.

During the first term of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration, the government chose to accommodate the company and even spare a strategic cabinet seat for Aburizal Bakrie, a key figure in Bakrie & Brothers Group.

But in the second term of Yudhoyono’s presidency, as Aburizal started to reveal more ambition in the political field which resulted in tension between the two figures, analyst predicted that Yudhoyono’s camp is prepared to counter Aburizal’s side with the mud.

EKO WIDIANTO