TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin gathered a number of ministers in his official house located on Jalan Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, today morning, February 17. He held a closed meeting for talks of the handling of illegal mining and damaged lands caused by the mining.

“Of all issues discussed, we have got many conclusions, such as follow up the president’s order on the closure of illegal mining and law enforcement,” said Ma'ruf after the meeting.

Ma'ruf said that not only natural disasters such as landslides, the illegal mining activities also caused birth defects due to mercury. Thus, the government would tighten the law enforcement and foster small mining owned by the people.

“We will establish an integrated team or a task force that involves Indonesian Military and National Police to enforce the law. So we will issue a presidential regulation too,” the VP added.

Ma'ruf went on to say that the government would draft presidential regulations on the acceleration and strengthening coordination of post-mining reclamation and illegal gold mining.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the government recorded a total of 7,464 hectares of legal mining areas, while the illegal ones were found in up to 8,683 points. As of April 2017, the total area was 146,545 hectares, and the total reclaimed areas reached 59,903 hectares only.

“When asked about when the closure will complete, we of course must identify it thoroughly first. [The closure] will be carried out step by step,” Siti said.

Today’s meeting at Ma'ruf Amin’s house was attended by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Police Deputy Chief Gen. Gatot Eddy, and Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo.

EGI ADYATAMA