KUPANG (TheInsiderStories) - More than 13,000 victims of the oil spill in the Timor Sea caused by the Montara offshore oil platform explosion in 2009 are demanding the cooperation of the PTTEP, the operator of Montara oil platform and the Australian side.
“We do not need help, but what we need is cooperation,” said Chairman of the Victims Advocacy Team Montara Ferdi Tanoni in Jakarta, Tuesday (14/3).
They are responding to the Australian Government’s wishes to help hundreds of thousands of seaweed farmers who have been affected by the Timor Sea pollution in 2009.
Currently, more than 13,000 seaweed farmers in the district of Rote Ndao and Kupang regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are suing PTTEP in Federal court of Australia in Sydney to demand compensation for damage to the environment as well as the cultivation of polluted waters crude oil and other toxic substances that spewed Montara. This does not include victims of pollution in other coastal estimated at hundreds of thousands of people.
Ferdi confirmed what the victims want from Montara is a “form of moral accountability”of Australia, as agreed with the Government of Indonesia over the affected communities.
“We do not need the help from Australia, as conveyed by the Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Jakarta, in early March, after meeting with Coordinating Minister for maritime Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan,” he said.
Bishop said the Australian Government promised to help the seaweed farmers in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) who were demanding compensation in case of an oil spill in the Timor Sea in 2009.
“We have been discussing openly about it and even though this is already being tried at the court. The Embassy of Australia will continue to work closely with the Government of Indonesia to help anything we could do,” said Minister Bishop.
The commitment of the Australian government, according Tanoni who is also Chairman of the West Timor Care Foundation (YPTB) was not desired by the victims of Montara, but rather a form of cooperation to get their rights that have been usurped by PTTEP and Australia over the years.
The cooperation is to jointly identify scientifically the entire loss suffered by the affected communities, such as seaweed farmers, fishermen and environmental damage in the Timor Sea and Savu Sea as a result of the oil spill tragedy.
Some studies suggest, almost 90 percent of the territorial waters of Indonesia in the Timor Sea has been polluted and was disastrous for the seaweed farmers in coastal areas NTT islands as a result of contaminated water.
“We thank the Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who had met the Coordinating Minister maritime Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan to discuss Montara and offer cooperation to victims of Montara,” said Ferdi Tanoni. (HS)