Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and Minister of Investment/Head of Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia have come in the defense of government’s nickel downstreaming and electric vehicles development policies.
The two cabinet ministers responded to an unfavorable claim made by former Minister of Trade and former BKPM Head Thomas Trikasih Lembong, or Tom Lembong, during his recent appearance in a political podcast. Tom is also co-captain of the National Election Winning Team for State leadership candidate pair Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar.
In the podcast, Tom assessed the feasibility of massive smelter construction in the country, which he considers detrimental as they would lead to oversupply and subsequently cause nickel prices to fall. Adding complexity to the issue, Tom revealed that Tesla electric car manufacturer in China has converted to LFP (Lithium Ferro Phosphate) and no longer uses nickel as the main component for its lithium-ion rechargeable batteries used in electric cars.
Tom’s statement and Luhut’s and Bahlil’s “counterstatement” on nickel downstreaming illustrate the interest of political elites and state officials in discussing about industrial development than their own people.
An environmental activist accuses both Tom and Luhut and Bahlil of being ignorant of the reality of nickel downstreaming projects that impoverish citizens, but benefit industry players.
“Downstreaming has triggered massive exploitation of nickel ores that has resulted in the disappearance of community production space, pollution of water sources and sea waters, forest destruction, disruption of community health, violence against and criminalization of people, and work accidents that have led to deaths,” Alfarhat Kasman, an environmentalist with the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), said.
Such a condition is observable in almost all industrial areas, such as PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Morowali and PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry in North Morowali, both in Central Sulawesi province; Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry in Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi province; as well as Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) in Central Halmahera and Industrial Estate on Obi Island in Southern Halmahera, both in North Maluku province.
Negligence to this complicated reality, along with heated verbal exchanges among political elites who are defending and seizing power in the upcoming 2024 general elections, Alfarhat said, does not merely expose the irresponsible nature of the ruling government’s flagship downstream project, but can also be viewed as disruption to business interests of Bahlil and Luhut, and also a number of businessmen and politicians who are behind all the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2024 elections.
Alfarhat cited that Bahlil, for example, is connected to PT Meta Mineral Pradana, a nickel mining company holding two mining licences in North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi. The company’s shareholders, PT Rifa Capital (10 percent) and PT Papua Bersama Unggul (90 percent), are owned by Bahlil.
Meanwhile, Luhut is associated with PT Energi Kreasi Bersama (Electrum), a joint venture between PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GoTo) and PT TBS Energi Utama (TOBA), owned by Luhut. Electrum focuses on developing an integrated electric vehicle ecosystem and industry from upstream to downstream, including electric motorbike manufacturing, battery manufacturing technology, battery swap infrastructure and charging stations, and financing.
Through GoTo, Luhut’s business interests also meet with Garibaldi “Boy” Thohir, who recently held a gathering of a number of business tycoons who are claimed to support candidate pair number 2, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Boy Thohir is listed as a shareholder and serves as GoTo’s Commissioner.
At the end of the day, verbal exchanges between Tom Lembong on one side and Luhut and Bahlil on the other side were closely related to their own business interests and those of their cronies and the industry itself. Worse still, Alfarhat said, the nickel row is for political gain in the 2024 elections, but not in the context of addressing the suffering of the people and the environmental damages caused by the downstream project.
Whether or not Tesla uses Indonesian nickel has no impact on reduced nickel ore mining activities in Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua as such mining activities will continue, ignoring the suffering of the people and the environmental damage that has never been taken care of.
