Rational person on Yahoo Finance chat board: @KeiMann Yes. With the successful petition by Baru to participate fully in the proceedings they can call witnesses, respond to allegations and the like. However I really don't see this going far for a few reasons.
In addition to what appears to be Baru's valid legal argument that the complaints don't apply because they have the CoW - I think the next biggest reasons are cost. There are two sources of cost - the first is your own expenses and the second is the threat of court costs for the other party if you lose.
Remember - it's not SSI suing MEMR it's Elbi Pieter. She's reported to be housewife and very likely not of unlimited means. She is also a leader in the SSI group and they are running a few hopeless fundraising campaigns that have amounted to almost nothing. Their biggest fundraising campaign has raised like $900 over two months (their target was $75,000) and these aren't even donations - they are pledges to donate.... so who knows how much they actually received. Every time she goes to court they produce social media posts seeking more funds. The "pledges" might go up by $50 or so each time.
MEMR\Baru are seeking court costs from the Elbi Pieter. I suspect SSI did not want Baru involved and are upset about the possibility of cost recovery (it's all over their social media). Am sure Elbi has enjoyed day dreaming of getting 7 million dollars paid "immediately" but she now faces the real responsibility of facing severe financial consequences. She is a leader in the SSI group but good luck having people supporting you when they realise you aren't going to be rich! It's one thing to swing for the fences and sue the government for a windfall for damages to the environment that hasn't happened - but another to sue and then face personal financial consequences if you lose. I empathise (but don’t sympathise) with the stress she must be under. I think the complaint will be withdrawn for this reason alone as the dropping of cost recovery is often negotiated in a withdrawal.
On a separate note, I would be very curious to know what Elbi is actually using the funds for. The SSI group is talking about needing the funds for travel to Jakarta, calling witnesses and so on... only the court is held virtually now and no witnesses have been called... it's way too early. This woman is suing opportunistically for millions, has raised no objections to the "community\illegal" miners that are destroying the environment nor is she complaining about Baru's exploration permit - just production… am sure she appreciates the drilling data for her friends. If there is misuse, hope the people donating are aware of the potential abuse of their funds.
The reality is that Baru is supported by community. In a now deleted Instagram video, SSI (in my opinion, foolishly) posted a video of themselves protesting and then having the police telling them to move along and asking something like - “why are you doing this. Stop protesting the mine.” The contents of that post painted themselves as a victim but am sure they quickly realized it also made them look bad because of the obvious community support. I saw another video on YouTube and a Sangihe official, I think it was of the police force, also reported seizing heavy equipment from the illegal miners. Cracking down on illegal mining is one way authorities can support Baru. SSI is going on about community opposition of the mine but I just haven’t seen significant evidence of it. The SSI group doesn’t seem large in their group photos, the new the photos and videos that are appearing are all of the same people and the donations aren’t following. It’s being pushed literally by two women - Elbi and another called Juli. In an online meeting SSI reviewed their accomplishments, and it was all old stuff (the BBC video, the international attention caused by the heart attack by Helmud on the plane and their petition that hasn’t added significant new signatories in ages). It doesn’t appear to be a dynamic growing movement.
Hopefully the concern about personal financial consequences, the exaggerated claims of harm, lack of legal applicability and community support bring this to an end. By the way - none of this should be slowing down Baru unless the permit is revoked.. but again, it can’t be revoked because it’s a CoW.
FYI - I (hope) and suspect something like be announced soon re: land acquisition. For the first time, I noticed that the land acquisition is being broken into two phases - the first for 30 ha and the second for 100 ha. Was surprised by the specificity of the area. I wonder if they have secured 30 ha and are ready to go
