T

he government is demanding that the Australian government immediately establish a task force similar to Indonesia’s Montara oil spill task force to resolve the 2009 oil spill in the Timor Sea.

The Montara rig, operated by PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) Australasia, a subsidiary of the Thai oil production company PTT, caught fire and leaked hundreds of thousands of liters of oil.

Meanwhile, the Care for West Timor Foundation’s class action lawsuit, which was filed in August 2016, remains at Sydney Federal Court. The foundation represents more than 13,000 local fishermen.

The class action demands that the Australian government be held accountable for spraying highly toxic dispersants on the oil spill, following a report from the Australian Commission of Inquiry stating that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had undertaken the measure without proper authorization.

The Australian Commission of Inquiry was formed after the Montara oil spill.

Through the foundation, the fishermen also demanded Rp 2.7 trillion (US$200 million) in compensation from PTTEP Australasia.

The Law and Human Rights Ministry’s director general of administrative law, Cahyo Rahadian Muzhar, said the government had sent Australia a reminder on forming the task force and a project timeline, as it wanted to start negotiations on settling the class action.

The latest notification was a follow-up to a meeting in October that was held between the Indonesian task force and the Australian deputy ambassador to Indonesia.

“We would like to [confirm] when our next meeting will be held for further discussion and [to determine] a target date of completion. We hope that they will immediately appoint a task force to work with us,” Cahyo said on Tuesday.

He said Jakarta would wait until January 2019 for a response.

“If the Australian government does not respond and drags on the matter even further, we might bring the case to [either] a closed or open court, or to the international tribunal,” Cahyo said, referring to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

He added that the government’s sense of urgency stemmed from the prolonged trauma of the fishermen, who could not feed their families.

If it became necessary to take the matter to court, Cahyo said that Indonesia would continue to pressure PTTEP to take responsibility for the damage and economic losses the spill had caused.

“It’s very simple for us. PTTEP Australasia can pay for what they did, and we’re done. We are still calculating the figures because we have a lot of evidence,” he said.

The Australian Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism estimated that more than 2,000 barrels of oil per day had leaked into the Timor Sea before the company finally succeeded in capping the well three months later.

In addition, the Australian Commission of Inquiry reported in June 2010 that the Northern Territory Department of Resources had not ensured that PTTEP Australasia’s Well Operation Management Plan complied with good oilfield practice.

Even with all the evidence, Cahyo said that PTTEP Australasia had not compensated any of the victims.

He stressed that while the government did not want to harm relations between the two countries, the Montara needed to be resolved.

Secretary to the Deputy Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Dedy Miharja said that if necessary, fighting at court for Indonesia would be worth it, even though the process might be long and complicated.

“While we are preparing claims to bring at a later time, the class action is still underway. We are hoping the best for both [parties],“ Dedy said. He added that the government remained positive that Australia would take responsibility in the case.

Ferdi Tanoni, the head of the legal team representing Care for West Timor Foundation, said that the people of West Nusa Tenggara felt that the government was taking too long in resolving the issue.

“If the Australian government does not respond in three weeks, we have asked the Indonesian President to issue an immediate statement,” Ferdi said.

Australian Embassy spokesperson Lydia Trotter said that the Australian government continued to work closely in communicating with Indonesia’s Montara task force, and had responded to the correspondence from the task force.

“And we will continue to encourage PTT, the Thai state oil company, to engage with relevant stakeholders. Meanwhile, we note that the issue between the West Nusa Tenggara stakeholders and the company is being adjudicated before the Federal Court of Australia and we cannot comment further, as it is a matter before a court,” she told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, PTT lawyer Andi Simangunsong said that both governments should settle the case in Australia.

“It should be in Australia because the location of the spill was allegedly there. The operator is also a legal entity in Australia,” he told Post. (ggq)