Antara 22 Nov 09;
Kupang (ANTARA News) - Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has set up a national team to calculate the material losses Indonesia has suffered from pollution in the Timor Sea by an explosion at the Montara oil field, a source here said.
"The minister has already set up a national team to calculate the material losses incurred by Indonesia because of the pollution in the Timor Sea," Ferdi Tanoni, chairman of the Care West Timor Foundation (YPTB) said on the sidelines of a discussion on reform in the security sector here on Saturday.
Some 500,000 liters of crude oil spilled into the Timor Sea following an explosion at the Montara oil field on August 20, 2009.
Ferdi appreciated the establishment of the team after the East Nusa Tenggara legislative assembly (DPRD) and regional administration did not give serious attention to the problem.
"We welcome the establishment of the team from which we hope we will know howmuch Indonesia has lost because of the incident," he said.
Ferdi said "the East Nusa Tenggara provincial government and legislative assembly have not paid a serious attention to the problem by not conducting a profound study on it."
So far the central and regonal governments have ignored the rights of the East Nusa Tenggara population, the fishermen in particular while other countries in Europe had supported the YPTB to continue to fight in the case. "Our movement is supported by
countries in Europe," he said.
As a result of the explosion, a lot of coral reefs and fish in the area have been polluted, he said.
He said he hoped after calculation of the loss were made Indonesia would claim compensation from the Australian government.
Earlier he said that the pollution problem was not a bilateral problem between Indonesia and Australia but a trilateral problem because Timor Leste was included in the discussion of the problem. (*)
