TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
The Canary in the gold mine: Greed and hypocrisy threaten Sangihe
If the illegal gold mining activities in Sangihe remain unchallenged, it will encourage and embolden the collusion and corruption of unscrupulous state and non-state actors to continue the practice in other parts of the country.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Mount Ruang, a volcanic island in Sangihe Islands, North Sulawesi, erupts on April 18, 2024. (Antara/BNPB)
The phrase “the canary in the coal mine” originates from the practice of miners carrying a caged canary to detect dangerous gases. If the canary showed signs of distress or died, it served as an early warning of unsafe air. Today, it’s used metaphorically to describe an early indicator of danger.
In Sangihe Islands regency, a group of about 40 islands located roughly halfway between Sulawesi and Mindanao in the Philippines, the Cerulean Flycatcher, known locally as the seriwang Sangihe, is the “canary in the mine”, but in this case, the danger comes from a gold mine.
The seriwang Sangihe was considered extinct until it was rediscovered in 1998 by a ranger named Niu, in the Sahendaruman Mountains in North Sangihe. Hence its local name, manu niu (Niu bird).
However, the Niu bird, as well as four others endemic to Sangihe - the elegant sunbird, whistler, hanging parrot and scops owl – now face the threat of extinction due to illegal gold mining activities.
PT Tambang Mas Sangihe (TMS), an Indonesian subsidiary of Canadian company Baru Gold, which owns 70 percent stake in TMS, was issued a contract in January 2021 to mine gold for 33 years until 2054. The concession spans 42,100 hectares, covering 60 percent of the island, including protected forests.
Hello? A protected forest being mined? Isn’t that a glaring contradiction? The mind boggles.
