72-year-old South Korean dune merchant arrested for sand mining in Indonesian mangrove forest

MAKASSAR, Indonesia Indonesian authorities have arrested a 72-year-old South Korean national for allegedly running a sand mining operation in a protected forest area in West Sulawesi province. The incident marks a rare case of a foreign citizen being charged with environmental crimes in the world's largest archipelagic country.

The operation involved several agencies, including the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, police and military officers in the semi-remote village of Lariang in Pasangkayu district, located on the coast about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of the nearest major city, Palu. .

Arresting officers seized four excavators, a wheel loader and three dump trucks used to transport sand.

Investigators said they believe the South Korean man, identified by police only by his initials YKY, was not only the investor behind the sand mining but also ran operations on the ground.

Aswin Bangun, head of the law enforcement division at the Ministry of Environment in Sulawesi region, said the matter came to light through a public report denouncing illegal sand mining activities in the protected forest area.

Television news showed the 72-year-old man dressed in an orange detention vest being led through a press kit accompanied by Rasio Ridho Sani, head of the environment ministry's enforcement division, known as of Gakkum.

Gakkum has broad powers and has previously arrested foreign nationals for wildlife crimes. However, it is rare for the division to arrest foreigners accused of small-scale logging and mining, which are typically crimes carried out by local elites or individuals with low income and few opportunities.

In recent years, Gakkum investigators have referred more than 1,000 cases to criminal court.

Mustam Arif, president of the Sulawesi Association of Environmental Journalists (JURnal), said the fact that a foreign national was allowed to operate illegally here should raise questions about authorities' oversight.

How dare a foreign citizen engage in illegal mining activities by freely bringing heavy equipment into a place without permission in a protected forest? Mustaf told Mongabay Indonesia.

This is not the colonial era. Where was the local government, especially the institutions and security forces that have the power to supervise?

Omen of Dune

Sand mining has emerged as an unlikely environmental controversy in the twilight of President Joko Widodos' 10-year administration, which ends in October after Jokowi, as the president is better known, reached the two-term limit.

Indonesia banned sea sand exports in 2003, while allowing dredging for domestic use. The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono strengthened policies in 2007 to combat illegal exports, mainly to Singapore, where Indonesian sand was used to create reclaimed islands.

However, last year Jokowi lifted the two-decade-old order banning the export of sand from the archipelago's beaches, provided local extractors ensure domestic supplies for reclamation projects and other infrastructure.

Local civil society advocates fear that supply-side reform will boost a sector that can be highly destructive to marine and river economies.

Susan Herawati, secretary general of the Coalition for Justice in Fisheries (KIARA), a civil society organization, said at the time that the policy change threatened the coastal ecosystems of a country where at least 2.5 million people work as fishermen.

Anecdotal evidence indicates that sand mining is practiced by countless communities across Indonesia and can create local jobs. However, recent cases show that larger-scale sand mining is vulnerable to corruption, particularly at the district government level.

Mongabay reported last December on a local corruption case on the island of Lombok, a major tourist destination, where prosecutors charged eight suspects, including the former head of the provincial energy and mines department, as well as two managers of the eastern port of the island.

The activity will also accelerate the sinking of small islands around the mined area because it changes the contours of the seabed, which affects the pattern of ocean currents and waves, said Afdillah, oceans campaign manager for Greenpeace Indonesia, after the revelation of the Lombok story.

In 2019, an environmental activist from Lombok who survived an arson attack on his home by unknown attackers said he believed it was his campaign against sand mining that sparked the attack.

Sand is the world's most demanded commodity after water, with global production of around 50 billion tonnes per year.

However, Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago country, produces little of the sand needed to produce cement, glass and other basic materials enabling the country's rapid urbanization.

Sandbanks

Conservationists in Indonesia say they are concerned that the sudden creation of an export market will put pressure on coastal ecosystems already under pressure from rapidly depleting fishing grounds.

All these areas are very important for preventing erosion and abrasion, habitat for various animals, nurseries for shrimp, crabs and fish, as well as for controlling pollution from land entering the waters, said Gakkums Rasio.

JURnal celebrity Mustam Arif called on government agencies to improve coordination to prevent actors from starting dredging work, rather than responding to public complaints after the damage has been done.

I agree with Gakkum's statement that this problem continues to occur due to low synergy in supervision, Mustam said. We hope that synergy between law enforcement institutions will occur regarding monitoring on the ground, and not just retrospectively during arrests like this.

Rasio said investigators would continue a money laundering investigation against the South Korean suspect in cooperation with the country's Financial Transactions Analysis and Reporting Center (PPATK). Gakkum officers will also look into alleged violations of Indonesia's 2009 environmental law, he said.

“I have ordered investigators to continue to develop the disclosure of the possible involvement of other parties, including other perpetrators involved,” Rasio said. We are committed to uncovering the entire criminal network of suspect YKY, including tracing the flow of funds from this illegal mining crime in coordination with PPATK.

Banner image: Suspect YKY, a South Korean national, is paraded in an orange vest in Sulawesi. Image courtesy of Gakkum.

This story was reported by Mongabays Indonesia team and first published here on our Indonesian site on September 7, 2024.