Veranstaltungsposter; Quelle Kristina Großmann

by

Prof Kathryn Robinson, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University

Prof Maribeth Erb, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore

Ort: Universität Passau, Dr.-Hans-Kapfinger-Str. 12, HK 12, Raum SR 005, 94032 Passau

Mining has had an important, if conflictual, role in the history of humanity. Different minerals that have been extracted have helped to shape the trajectory of different societies that have used them, but as different regimes have become dependent on particular minerals for power, energy and wealth, warfare, plunder and domination of others has often followed. Mining has therefore, arguably, played a contentious role in human history and indeed in recent decades the mining industry has come under a great deal of criticism.

In this presentation we examine the role mining has played in Indonesia’s recent history, in the New Order and post-New Order periods, and some of the various contentions that have arisen over the role of mining in the Indonesian economy and development. We examine this through a brief look at the way mining was pursued in the New Order, and the newer legislation that has changed the way mining activities have developed over the past decade. We further examine, through our case studies of Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara Timur, how, as mining in the post New Order has expanded as a promised livelihood and development strategy, contentious politics has often ensued, as mining has increasingly been rejected as environmentally destructive and socially unjust.