UT Watch on the Web

Home

Information on the Moffett Building Controversy, May-June 1996

  • Indonesia, President Kennedy & Freeport Sulphur, Lisa Pease, Probe, May-June, 1996, pp. 16-32. Part II of a history of Freeport. Part I, entitled David Atlee Phillips, Clay Shaw & Freeport Sulphur, appeared in the March-April issue, pp. 16-24. CTKA "Nine pages with four exceptionally interesting sidebars on Freeport's shenanigans with Batista, the relationship between Phillips and CIA journalist Hal Hendrix, a possible connection between Freeport and the Bay of Pigs operation, and a description of the heavy hitters on Freeport's Board of Directors. In the next issue, the report continues with more new ground on JFK, Freeport, Sukarno, and the bloodbath that toppled him."

  • A Warning for Resource Companies, Gary MacDonald, ASIA, INC, May, 1996.

  • Complaint alleges environmental, rights abuses at mine in Indonesia. BNA National Environment Daily, May 1, 1996, full text at Lexis-Nexis.
    • Apparently the official name of this suit is: "Beanal v. Freeport-McMoRan Inc., No. 96-1474, DC ELa, 4/29/96".
    • "The suit was filed under 28 U.S.C. 1332, which covers disputes between corporate citizens of a U.S. state and subjects of a foreign state. Jurisdiction in U.S. courts also was asserted under the Alien Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. 1350) and the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (PL 102-256)."
    • The suit concerns the well-known problems with the tailings and their effects upon rivers and rain forests. But furthermore: "The complaint also alleged environmental damage from acid drainage."

  • Moffett unruffled by lawsuit as he extols Freeport profits. Austin American Statesman, May 1, 1996, p. A1.
    • "The suit brought by Beanal, the Amungme tribal leader, accuses the company of `eco-terrorism' and `cultural genocide'."
    • "The suit contends that Freeport security personnel tortured indigenous people and that mining has damaged the rain forests, rivers, and ground waters. Company officials said the allegations already have been examined by independent groups and found to be without merit."
    • The dispute over whether the indigenous people or their leaders agreed to Moffett's 1% offer on April 13 continues: "During the stockholders' meeting, Moffett showed videotapes of meetings involving him, Indonesian government officials and tribal leaders. He said an agreement had been struck whereby Freeport would provide 1 percent of annual revenues for social development programs." But later we read "`There was absolutely no acceptance of Freeport's offer,' Regan (Beanal's lawyer) said. `There was receipt of the offer. What you're dealing with here is quite frankly, a slick media presentation.'"

  • Freeport Sued for $6 Billion. Robert Bryce, Austin Chronicle, May 3-9, 1996. "The suit, rumored for weeks, but not filed until the day before Freeport C&G's annual shareholders meeting, alleges a laundry list of human rights and environmental violations at the Irian Jaya (West Papua)n mine site."

  • Major confusion and doubt cast on suit. Based upon a Reuter story, May 2, 1996. Tom Beanal says that the $6,000,000,000 suit filed on April 30 against Freeport was filed without his consent. He wants to study the suit filed, but will withdraw it if the content does not agree with his intentions. Beanal said he had met with the lawyer, Regan, who filed the suit. Beanal said he had wanted to file a suit for some time.

  • Suit against Freeport to be withdrawn? May 6, 1996. According to several press reports, Tom Beanal subsequently asked his lawyer to withdraw the suit, claiming he is unhappy both about the contents of the filing and the timing of the filing. Apparently he had granted power of attorney to his American lawyer, but has asked to withdraw this. Also apparently, the possibility of his filing a later and somewhat related suit is not excluded. See an Associated Press article in the May 6, 1996 issue of the Daily Texan entitled "Suit against Freeport aborted"; use the Search feature.

  • Getting close. Early May, 1996. With the annual letter for faculty parking permits at UT comes a map of the campus. This year's has a new building labeled "Moffat (sic) Microbiology Building," which has been given the abbreviation MBB (sic).

  • Freeport attacks lawyer. May 7, 1996, Times Picayune, Lexis-Nexis. Reports that Freeport has gone to federal court asking for not yet publicly specified sanctions against lawyer Martin Regan, who filed a $6,000,000,000 law suit against Freeport on behalf of Tom Beanal, and a hearing has been set for May 29.

  • Soeharto critic jailed for 'dictator' remark. May 8, 1996. Although I (rsb) don't begin to try to track, in these web pages, all the many numerous stories about the basic lack of human freedoms in Indonesia, the following egregious instance, reported by Reuter and the Sydney Morning Herald only today, seems worth mentioning. A former Indonesian legislator, one Sri Bintang Pamungkas, received a sentence of 34 months in jail for "defaming President Suharto" during a speech in Berlin. The defamation consisted simply of calling Suharto a "dictator" and "undemocratic". So think twice about travelling to Indonesia if you have opened your mouth about the tyrrany that is the government of Indonesia, to which the US is now selling F16s.

  • News reports about end of the hostage crisis

  • Tom Beanal to sue Freeport. Kompas, Jakarta, May 18, 1996.

  • Tom Beanal sues Freeport-McMoRan in Louisiana. Indonesia Times, May 20, 1996. (Try the login name "indotimes" with the password "free".)

  • Lawsuit still on. Robert Bryce, Austin Chronicle, May 17-23, 1996, p. 27. "Despite press reports to the contrary, the $6 billion class action lawsuit against Freeport-McMoRan and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold is still active. In early May, Reuters and other press outlets reported that Tom Beanal, the named plaintiff in the suit, had withdrawn the action, but lawyers working with Martin Regan, the New Orleans-based lawyer representing Beanal, say the lawsuit is still active. More on this later."

  • Indonesian tribesman to reinstate Freeport suit. Reuter, May 17. Full text at Lexis-Nexis. "An Indonesian tribal leader (Tom Beanal) said on Friday he had reinstated his $6 billion class action suit against Freeport-McMoRan Inc after clarifications from his lawyer." Agence France Presse and Australian Radio are also carrying news about a reinstatement of this suit. (From several sources I (rsb) have heard that Tom Beanal had meetings with his lawyer Martin Regan in Indonesia last week. Beanal is scheduled to speak at Loyola University, New Orleans on 23 May at 7 p. m. See the text of the suit that Beanal filed on April 29, 1996. The assertion, which first appeared apparently in the Jarkata Post after a Beanal press conference on Friday, May 17th, that the lawsuit was being "reinstated" is apparently an inappropriate turn of phrase because the suit had never been withdrawn in the first place.)

  • Kidnappings help to undermine gold-diggers from the West. The Times, May 17, 1996. Full text at Lexis-Nexis.
    • "Indonesia has overcome some of its negative international image with a restrained operation, but the hostages' endorsement of their captors' accusation that Jakarta is destroying their ancient inheritance is what the Free Papua Movement (OPM) had hoped to achieve. The Papuans have been forced out of their mountain homes through the activities of a larger-than-life American, Jim-Bob Moffett, chairman of the parent company, Freeport McMoRan of New Orleans, part British-owned."
    • "Mr Moffett, who declares he is in a `new Cold War' with his critics in non-governmental organisations, says of FreeportRTZ: `This is not just a job for us, it's a religion.' He and his workers live in what is virtually an extra-territorial stretch of America enjoying the protection of the Indonesian military, which often uses the company's aircraft."
    • "Students and academics back home are less impressed and the University of Austin, Texas, and the Catholic Loyola University in New Orleans have both been critical of the company (Freeport)."

  • Freeport plaintiff flip flops, Times-Picayune, May 21, 1996. Reports that Tom Beanal said he signed a letter asking to withdraw the suit out of fear and that he did not know what the letter said when he signed it. "Beanal on Thursday filed an amended complaint almost identical to the first complaint."

  • Irianese tribal leader: 'We are angry'. Stewart Yerton, Times-Picayune, May 24, 1996, p. C1. Lexis-Nexis. Reports that Tom Beanal spoke at Loyola University in New Orleans on May 23 and also analyzes the deposition that Beanal gave recently in Jakarta. (See also John Clark's account of this meeting.)

  • Tribal leader wants suit to go on. Stewart Yerton, Times-Picayune, May 25, 1996, p. C1. Lexis-Nexis. Reports that Tom Beanal and his lawyer Martin Regan both testified (most odd to have a lawyer testifying) while Regan and Freeport's attorney John Reynolds argued before Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. in federal district court in New Orleans on May 24. At issue was whether Regan violated the rules of federal procedure procedure, in particular something called "Rule 11", in the way he filed the $6,000,000,000 lawsuit against Freeport on behalf of Beanal. Beanal said "We have the agreement. (Regan) can do what he needs to do, and we can talk about it later.", "I don't want to pull the suit back", "I want to keep going with the suit.". A ruling on this issue is not expected for at least a week as the judge has given the lawyers more time to file briefs. (For the Rule in question, see Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. See also Law of Federal Courts, Fourth Edition, Charles Alan Wright, Section 66, p. 428, ``fortunately there have been very few cases in which it has been necessary even to consider such a sanction.'')
  • No to beauty pagents. Jakarta, May 28, (UPI) "Indonesia's President Suharto announced Tuesday all women in the predominantly Muslim country will be prohibited from participating in international beauty contests."

  • Tribal Leader, Freeport Land in Court. Robert Bryce, Austin Chronicle, May 31-June 6, 1996, p. 27. Describes the May 24 court battle involving Tom Beanal, Martin Regan, and Freeport. Also describes the May 23 speech by Beanal at Loyola University.

  • Jim Bob's Indonesian Misadventure. Eyal Press, The Progressive, June, 1996, pp. 32-35. Mainly a good review of the story. A few new interesting bits:
    • "Freeport categorically rejects this charge (Freeport personnel involvement in the Christmas Day 1994 shooting) and says that its own security force does not even carry guns. John Matthews, the pseudonym of an American who recently passed through the mine, was told otherwise by an English-speaking Freeport employee (whom Matthews wishes not to name). ``As we stood in the highest security post inside the mine, surrounded by men carrying guns, this employee told me that the only way to tell the difference between Indonesian soldiers and Freeport security guards is that the soldiers carry M16s and Freeport security carries AK-47s. ... To me, there was absolutely no visible difference. The company works with the troops and the troops work with the mine, and their interests are aligned, so unless you're really splitting hairs, there's no effective difference.''"
    • Commenting on Bishop Munninghoff's remarks publicized in Freeport ads in the NY Times: "But according to Theo van den Broek, a Franciscan missionary who heads the diocese office at Jayapura and was present when Munninghoff spoke, Freeport has twisted the statement and taken it out of context. Neither Munninghoff nor others at the Church, he says, believe that their report investigated the full range of abuses near the mine, or sought to establish who is responsible. ``The Bishop's report is limited to a certain number of cases that we could get facts about. In one or two of the cases, it is clear that Freeport material has been used. This should be investigated. Exactly who is responsible is an open question.''"

  • Report: Freeport could better meet tribal needs. Ralph K. M. Kaurwitz, Austin American-Statesman, June 6, 1996, p. A3. "Freeport-McMoRan can do a better job responding to the needs of indigenous people near its copper, gold, and silver mine in Indonesia, according to a report issued Wednesday by an international consulting firm."

  • Suit and Countersuit. Robert Bryce, Naked City column, Austin Chronicle, June 7-June 13, 1996.

  • In a Fouled Jungle, Tribes Win One. Kevin Murphy, International Herald Tribune, June 12, 1996, full text at Lexis-Nexis. "A bitter and complex environmental battle that for eight years pitted tribal villagers of Papua New Guinea against one of the world's largest mining conglomerates ended Tuesday when the company, Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary, called a truce. BHP said it would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate the villagers and clean the rivers on which their traditional way of life depends, after polluting these waters for years with copper and gold mining waste. The company also pledged to find new ways to dispose of the mining waste now pouring into the Fly River."

  • Indonesia: Wealth disparity causes concern. Louise Williams, Sydney Morning Herald, June 15, 1996. "New research on Indonesia's eastern provinces, including Irian Jaya (West Papua) and East Timor, has questioned Jakarta's development and economic policies, which have left the islands closest to Australia isolated and poor while the rest of Indonesia benefits from rapid economic growth."

  • Does the name on the building go to the highest bidder? No. Moffett experience illustrates the blurry lines between pledges, perks. Ralph K. M. Haurwitz, Austin American Statesman, June 16, 1996, p. A11. A very thorough review of the history of the private financing of UT's new molecular biology building. Notes that the first $250,000 installment of the $1,000,000 Freeport pledge for the building was received, on schedule, in February, 1996. In the same issue of the Statesman, in a front page story, is a comprehenive article on all private donors of $1,000,000 or more to UT over the last 20 years. The Moffetts rank thirty-second in the amount given during this period.

  • Culture clash. Keith Loveard, Asiaweek, June 14, 1996. "Among those who cannot accept that they have no rights to their traditional land are the Amungme people who live near the PT Freeport Indonesia copper and gold mine in the south. Tribal leader Tom Beanal has hit the U.S.-based company with a $6 billion law suit. He accuses Freeport of destroying the local environment and `cultural genocide.' The on-off suit, withdrawn once by Beanal and then presented again, is seen as symptomatic of the confusion among the Amungme leadership. `We are just stupid people up against these smart people from Freeport,' Beanal says sarcastically."

  • ABRI keeps hunting down GPK members in Irian Jaya (West Papua). Indonesia Times, June 17, 1996. (Login as "indotimes" with password "free".) "... more than 600 well-trained security troops have been stationed at Freeport, the world's biggest copper and gold mining company, to maintain security at the complex."

  • Freeport CEO warns companies on Cuba, June 21, 1996. Cubanet.

  • ABRI sends home 579 Irian Jaya (West Papua) villagers. Indonesia Times, June 26, 1996. (Login as "indotimes" with password "free".)

  • BHP settlement in PNG, Robert Bryce, Naked City column, Austin Chronicle, June 28-July 4, 1996. "While the judge overseeing Beanal's case hasn't ruled yet on Freeport's request that it be dismissed, Beanal got some good news on June 11 when the Australian mining company, BHP -- which has a mine located 300 miles east of Freeport's in Papua, New Guinea -- agreed to spend about $500 million to settle a suit very similar to the one filed by Beanal."