Neither the police nor the Lombok local government are willing to put a stop to widespread illegal mining in Sekotong, giving the feeble excuse that too many people are involved and choosing to lay the responsibility at the other's feet.
Despite West Nusa Tenggara passing a bylaw on spatial planning designed to put an end to the illegal activity, the attractive profits associated with the business continue to attract more people to the region.
The latest data gathered by the province's mining and energy office reveals illegal mining has spread to more than four villages in Sekotong, which lies 35 kilometers south of Mataram, the provincial capital city.
"As of December, the mining activities had expanded to four villages, involving more people outside Sekotong," office head Heriyadi Rahmat said Saturday.
He said some illegal mining was conducted in the open and involved hundreds of people living near the mines, which are located far from residential areas.
The majority of the miners use basic equipment, he said.
"Most of the miners did not realize that their activities were illegal," he added.
Heriyadi said the miners used the toxic metal mercury to separate gold from the earth, meaning their action was a health hazard as well as damaging to the environment.
He said the provincial administration had urged the West Lombok administration to take action against the illegal mining.
"Our office has the authority only to monitor and supervise. The regency administration should take a stance to solve the problem since it is located in their area," Heriyadi said.
He said the regency administration had proposed the bylaw be revised in order to facilitate the development of the area for mining, in particular for gold.
However, he said that based on Law No. 26/2007 on spatial planning, the bylaw could not be revised until mid this year.
"Since we still enact the bylaw, the mining activities in the Sekotong should be categorized as illegal," Heriyadi said.
West Lombok administration spokesman Basirun Anwar said the administration did not have the resources to tackle the illegal mining as the mines were occupied by many people.
"What we can do now is ask the provincial administration to revise the bylaw banning the mining activities in the area so that we can offer it to investors. If the mining continues to be conducted by the people (there currently), it will harm the environment and the miners," Basirun told The Jakarta Post.
He said that complicating the matter was a plan to develop Sekotong as a tourist area.
The provincial police said they were unable to halt the mining as the closure of the mines would affect too many locals.
"Sekotong mining is a complex problem and involves so many people. We can not directly apply legal steps as we should consider the social impacts too," West Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Brig. Gen. Surya Iskandar.
He said many residents had set off for the mines having lost their previous jobs, adding that it was the administration's duty to come up with a solution to the problem.
