Coal'd Comfort Redux

I really didn't expect to return to a topic covered just a few days ago, but what I have learned since adds yet another dimension to my central thesis: coal mining at the behest of rapacious businesses, with their political cohorts cashing in, is a disaster for Indonesia.

Asia Calling is a regional current affairs programme produced by Indonesia's independent radio news agency KBR68H, and a partner of Tempo TV and Green Radio (89.2FM). It broadcasts in local languages to 10 countries across Asia, and its website is in Indonesian, English, Bangla, Khymer and Urdu.

Quinawaty Pasaribu, one of their reporters, recently visited Muarojambi village in Jambi Province, south east Sumatra, site of the last seat of the Sriwijaya kingdom.

The Muarojambi Buddhist temples were built in the 14th century and were only rediscovered, overgrown with vegetation, in 1974. Last September the President visited Muarojambi and promised to declare it a protected world heritage site: the temples are in line for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage listing.

Every historically-significant site in Indonesia is protected by the national 2010 Cultural Heritage Law which provides sentences of up to 15 years and fines as high as US$100,000 for anyone who destroys or sells parts of important sites. But the law is still not in force because President Yudhoyono has not signed regulations needed to put it into effect.

The site covers a massive 12 square kilometres which makes it the biggest in Southeast Asia, even larger than Java s Borobudur temple, or Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and much of the complex still awaits excavation, but is already under threat.

In 2010, the military built a road which encroached on the area, but after negotiations, the project was halted before too much damage was done.

But coal mining, the biggest business in the local area, now threatens to damage the temples beyond repair. More than 300 coal mining companies operate in the province and most of them stockpile coal around the nearby Muaro Jambi village before loading it onto boats on the Batanghari river near the village to send to India.

So far 11 major temples have been restored, just six percent of the whole site - dozens more temples are still buried under mounds of soil called menapos , which are all under threat from surrounding coal stockpiles.

Five mining companies, which have been operating since 2009 with permission from the local government, use the temple area to stockpile coal before exporting it overseas. Company security guards watch the area, and ask for entry permits from anyone who wants to enter the temple compound.

A coal stockpile in Sumatra

The threat from the coal mining industry is twofold: acid from the coal pollutes the river and seriously damages relics still buried underground and particles of coal dust also work their way into the temples' rock and get stuck inside.

But it's not just the temples that suffer. The temple complex land isn't only used by coal companies - thousands of people live there and also complain about the coal dust: The coal trucks pass by everyday here, hundreds of them. We inhale the dust, it makes us feel unwell.

Coal dust can cause pneumoconiosis and other respiratory diseases.

Burhanuddin Mahir, the head of the Muarojambi district government, claims the temples are protected: Let's say a coal mining company asks for a permit for an area of two hectares. If there's a menapo within the area, we will put a fence around it to protect the temple.

Quinawaty Pasaribu visited one of the menapos and there was no fence. The menapo was located inside the company's area, and was only 50 metres away from the nearest coal stockpile.

Local villagers say they ... don't want coal companies around the temple site ... if they can harm our cultural heritage. We have to protect the area. The government has to be firm about this.

Ah, but the government won't. After all, the coal industry is the "driver of the country's economy" this year.

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Activists, academics and history buffs have started a petition to Save Muarajambi ancient temple site from industrial threats (which also include palm oil processing plants). So far, it has garned nearly 3000 signatures, including mine, from across Indonesia.

Senior archaeologist Metta Dharmasaputra, the man behind the petition, says: " If we don't do anything about the temples' destruction, we can only say to our children and grandchildren in the future that there used to be a temple here. That it's gone now, it's just a fairy tale for our future generations.

"We're going to push people to save the Muarojambi site. This site is priceless. Getting people to sign the petition is just the beginning of our actions. "

You too can join the notable figures (including your correspondent): Sign the Petition