00:01:06
Okay, now my car is at 78% battery,
00:01:12
and I want to try to charge the car.
00:01:16
Two years ago, Adhitya Mahaputra
decided to switch to an electric vehicle.
00:01:22
He bought this Sport Utility Vehicle (S-U-V)
for around 800 million Rupiah.
00:01:30
So I got this from Hyundai,
00:01:34
it's for home charging.
00:01:38
It's really easy, we just plug it in here.
00:01:50
When compared to
the average fossil-fuelled SUV,
00:01:55
the price of Adhitya's car can be
up to twice as high.
00:02:14
Despite the higher purchase price,
00:02:16
the vehicle is equipped with
all-digital technology features.
00:02:22
If you look at the drive mode,
there are options.
00:02:26
For example, this is the eco mode,
it can be more energy-efficient.
00:02:28
This is normal,
and this one is sport mode,
00:02:31
so the acceleration is faster, brother.
00:02:34
It makes it smoother.
00:02:39
In addition, Aditya was able to cut
operational costs
00:02:42
by 80 per cent for daily mobility.
00:02:47
The figure is calculated from
the purchase of electricity tokens
00:02:50
amounting to IDR 500,000 per month.
00:02:52
If I may compare, for example,
my old car with the electric car I’m using,
00:03:01
with the same fuel,
00:03:05
my old car could cost around
two million or maybe three million a month.
00:03:15
Maybe around two million,
00:03:17
but for this one, I only spent
five hundred thousand.
00:03:23
In order for the electric vehicle to run,
00:03:25
it requires energy storage technology,
commonly referred to as a battery.
00:03:32
It contains various materials, including nickel.
00:03:48
By no longer using fossil fuels,
00:03:51
electric cars are considered
environmentally friendly vehicles.
00:03:55
Because it does not produce
exhaust emissions that contribute
00:03:59
to the acceleration of the climate crisis.
00:04:02
The narrative then makes
the government provide convenience
00:04:06
for electric vehicle owners in Indonesia.
00:04:15
The support from the government,
I think, is really strong and massive.
00:04:20
There are subsidies,
for example exemption from the odd-even traffic rule
00:04:27
the very low taxes, and so forth.
00:04:30
They eventually made me more confident
00:04:36
and yes, it’s probably time for me
to use an electric car.
00:04:44
If I compare it to a car
with an engine capacity similar to mine,
00:04:49
I heard it should cost more than
eight to ten million (Rupiah).
00:04:55
Meanwhile, I only pay
IDR 1.3 million in taxes for this.
00:04:59
It's a huge difference,
a really huge difference.
00:05:04
Aditya's incentive with his electric car
is just one example of
00:05:07
other similar vehicle users in Indonesia.
00:05:20
The government has also
made it easy for all types
00:05:23
and manufacturers of
electric vehicles to operate.
00:05:27
Behind this convenience,
there is a narrative conveyed by the government.
00:05:31
One of them is the use of
electric vehicles,
00:05:35
in order to accelerate
the pace of energy transition.
00:05:38
We want to make a major transition
from fossil-fuelled cars
00:05:47
to environmentally friendly electric cars.
00:05:51
However, behind the convenience of
electric car users,
00:05:54
there is a different story from
the people living on land that contains nickel.
00:05:59
A story that has never been
narrated by the government to the public.
00:06:43
My name is Anwar,
00:06:45
from Sukarela Jaya Village.
00:06:47
My daily activities are farming.
00:06:51
Farming, and usually working at the sea, as well.
00:06:53
During the guava season like this,
we go up to spray. Once a week.
00:07:03
Anwar is a member of
the Wawonii community
00:07:06
who relies on natural resources
for his livelihood
00:07:12
Among them are cloves
and cashew nuts.
00:07:19
However, the productivity
of his crops has declined since 2019.
00:07:25
This happened
when PT Gema Kreasi Perdana,
00:07:27
a nickel mining company with
a forest area use permit (IPPKH)
00:07:34
covering 700 hectares,
started operating in Wawonii.
00:07:39
Is this still fruitful, sir?
00:07:41
Yes, if this is the case,
it can no longer bear fruit.
00:07:44
How many plants are affected by this (dust), sir?
00:07:47
Here, we have clove and
cashew nut plants, two types here.
00:07:57
How's the harvest going now?
00:08:01
It's less now, last year it was only 300 kilos.
00:08:09
Before there was a mine,
we got up to 4 tonnes.
00:08:17
Which one is the hauling route, sir?
00:08:19
This one.
00:08:26
The plants on his two-hectare land were affected,
00:08:29
as the location is adjacent
to the heavy equipment transport route
00:08:32
or hauling route of PT GKP.
00:08:39
If converted to Rupiah,
00:08:41
the decline in the cashew nut
harvest by 3.7 tons is equivalent
00:08:46
to 55 million Rupiah.
00:08:50
This amount is calculated from
the average selling price of the commodity,
00:08:53
which is 15 thousand Rupiah per kilogram.
00:09:09
As for the environmental condition,
well, it's actually bad.
00:09:14
Why do I say it's bad?
Right now, the guava flowers
00:09:19
are already covered with dust.
00:09:23
In fact, when we spray,
it doesn’t even penetrate the leaves.
00:09:27
The guava fruit is also not as good.
00:09:32
Last year. Only this year,
we don't know whether
00:09:34
it will happen or not,
we don't know either.
00:09:55
Not only Anwar, but other residents
have also lost their income
00:09:59
due to the land grabbing
carried out by the company.
00:10:27
I didn’t know at the time when
the incident happened,
00:10:30
it was around 10 PM
when I got a call from Kendari.
00:10:36
They said that Laamiri’s farm had been evicted.
00:10:38
It happened around 4 PM earlier.
00:10:41
In the afternoon, right?
When I heard that, I called my friends.
00:10:46
There were 16 or 17 of us.
We left at midnight.
00:10:51
We arrived at the farm at 1:30 AM.
00:10:55
When we got there, we didn’t sleep,
just waited until morning.
00:11:02
By the time we got there,
my 43-hectare land had already been evicted.
00:11:10
Land grabbing is not only experienced by Lamiri.
00:11:21
17 trees. I have a brother-in-law with 36 trees.
00:11:27
Meanwhile, one tree produces 30 kilos.
00:11:32
He lost one tree.
The clove tree is 23 years old.
00:11:37
Now, one kilo is 132 thousand.
00:11:48
If it’s converted, with an estimate of
one tree producing 30 kilograms of cloves
00:11:53
and the selling price
being 132 thousand per kilogram,
00:11:56
Lamiri has suffered
a loss of around 170 million Rupiah,
00:12:00
and Widiyati around 60 million Rupiah.
00:12:08
This threat of economic loss
also hangs over the 34,000 people
00:12:13
on Wawonii Island who depend
on natural resources.
00:12:28
The same story is also experienced
by farmers in Sagea Village,
00:12:33
North Weda District, Central Halmahera Regency,
North Maluku Province.
00:12:42
Mahmud Ali has been farming
for 25 years to support his family.
00:12:48
Mahmud plants nutmeg as
the main crop on his farm.
00:12:54
In fact, two of his four children
earned their college degrees
00:12:58
with the proceeds from the nutmeg harvest.
00:13:00
I got married here in 1996.
00:13:05
In 1996 I cleared out this garden.
00:13:07
So that's it. From the beginning
I came here for this purpose, for my life.
00:13:10
But recently, nickel industry activities
00:13:13
in the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park,
or IWIP, changed his life.
00:13:19
A processing area for nickel mining products,
commonly known as a smelter,
00:13:24
is located not far from his garden.
00:13:28
Along with the mining activities,
a number of nutmeg trees in his garden suddenly rotted.
00:13:35
Why did the trees die in the first place?
00:13:37
The leaves, the stem leaves were destroyed.
It wasn't just the stems that were destroyed,
00:13:52
but also these (the roots). How could they not die?
00:14:03
Amidst the damage to his crops,
Mahmud was offered to sell his land to the company.
00:14:10
However, he refused.
00:14:13
If you want, sir, 7 million.
You can take everything.
00:14:19
They asked for the certificate,
I said, this land is 2 and a half hectares.
00:14:26
That's how it is.
So, if you want to pay for it,
00:14:30
I will ask my children first.
00:14:32
At that time, I asked him,
and he was still in college.
00:14:37
I asked him, and he said,
'Dad, don't sell. Don't sell that land.
00:14:42
If you sell it, you'll regret it.'
So, I had no choice but not to sell.
00:14:53
The party that will buy Mr Mahmud's land
is PT First Pacific Mining.
00:14:59
This purchase plan is allegedly related
to mining land clearing activities in the Sagea Region.
00:15:05
This is in line with government policies
that encourage the national nickel industrialisation programme.
00:15:12
But unfortunately, the situation on the ground
is exactly the opposite.
00:15:18
So it is the residents who bear all the pain,
then our environment is also damaged.
00:15:25
And I think this nickel fever will come to an end.
00:15:34
Along with the depletion
of the nickel raw materials themselves.
00:15:38
Currently, the world's nickel deposits
are estimated to reach 72 million tonnes.
00:15:44
Indonesia holds more than 50 percent of it,
00:15:48
followed by Australia and Russia as the three countries
with the largest nickel reserves in the world.
00:15:59
It is this amount of nickel reserves that
the Joko Widodo regime was trying to maximise.
00:16:04
We want to create a large industry.
00:16:09
End to end, from upstream
to downstream for electric vehicles.
00:16:12
Starting from nickel mining, then the smelter,
the refinery, followed by the development
00:16:28
of the cathode industry and its precursors,
then moving into lithium batteries,
00:16:33
EV batteries, and finally the vehicles.
00:16:39
It is not only Indonesia that has nickel.
00:16:41
But other countries also have nickel,
only the management capital is not as greedy as Indonesia,
00:16:47
not as greedy as the political elite in Indonesia
who easily give licences to industry players.
00:17:08
In the end, the ease granted by
the government paved the way for nickel mining
00:17:13
to enter the eastern regions of Indonesia.
00:17:16
Not surprisingly, by the end of 2023,
more than 300 business permits were granted.
00:17:24
With the concession area covering 3.95 million hectares,
which is nearly 60 times the size of Jakarta.
00:17:34
So, we manage this country a bit recklessly.
00:17:41
It's just a gimmick, an excuse to provide
facilities to nickel processing plants or smelters,
00:17:53
most of which come from China.
00:18:00
Besides mining, Jokowi also encourages
the downstreaming of the nickel industry.
00:18:06
The construction of smelters
is carried out to process nickel ore
00:18:10
into finished products with added value.
00:18:12
This includes the production of electric vehicle batteries.
00:18:18
However, there is a high price to be paid
by the citizens of the nickel downstream ambition.
00:18:25
Namely, those who live around the smelter area
with all the environmental impacts that occur.
00:18:50
This is the Boki Maruru Tourism Area
located in Sagea Village and Kiya Village,
00:18:56
North Weda District, Central Halmahera Regency.
00:19:00
Of course, the Sagea River
has a significant positive impact on the community.
00:19:07
Mufti Ahmad took the initiative
with other residents to manage this area.
00:19:14
Tourism activities in this village have
stimulated the economic growth of the residents.
00:19:19
In a matter of days, there is income.
Sometimes, this income varies;
00:19:25
it’s not the same every day.
But on weekends, like Sundays,
00:19:31
the number of visitors surges.
In fact, the count can reach up to 1,000.
00:19:46
Husda Abjan is one of those
who has been running a small shop
00:19:50
in this area for almost the past two years.
00:19:54
If it's busy, around 2 million or more,
but if it's quiet, 1 million is still possible (to earn).
00:20:06
The majority of the visitors are those who work
in the nickel mining and processing industry.
00:20:17
However, behind the busy visitors, there is a hidden threat.
00:20:33
The murkiness of the water in the Sagea River area is
suspected to originate from mining companies in the upstream area.
00:20:41
Now, if we look at it historically,
00:20:45
the Sagea River used to get murky during rainy weather.
00:20:50
But now,
00:20:52
even during the dry season, like this hot weather,
the water can still be murky.
00:21:01
This raises a question.
00:21:04
And so, as I mentioned earlier, there is a suspicion,
00:21:08
a suspicion of exploitation behind the Boki Maruru Cave.
00:21:12
In this case, the mining investors.
00:21:33
There are at least five mining business licences or IUPs
00:21:36
whose concession areas are included
in the Sagea River Watershed.
00:21:41
The total area covers more than 11 thousand hectares,
00:21:44
or nearly ⅔ of the entire Sagea River Watershed.
00:21:52
This is what led Adlun Fiqri,
along with other residents of Sagea Village,
00:21:57
to urge for protection of the Sagea River's flow.
00:22:13
Currently, the mines in Central Halmahera
have had a negative impact on our ecosystem,
00:22:20
they have had a negative impact on our rivers,
00:22:24
rivers that have long been part of our identity.
00:22:27
Rivers that have been historically significant
to us as the people of Central Halmahera.
00:22:32
So far, the impact of environmental damage that has occurred,
00:22:35
has not resulted in the slightest compensation or
compensation from the company.
00:22:41
Moreover, no subsidies or incentives have been given to residents,
00:22:45
as the government has given to
the nickel industry and electric vehicle users.
00:22:50
It can be said that this river has played
the most vital role in the life of the people of Sagea,
00:22:55
from long ago,
from our ancestors until now.
00:22:58
Perhaps today, its utilization is vast.
00:23:01
Why is Sagea village located on
the banks of the Sagea River?
00:23:04
Because of that, people see this river as a source of life.
00:23:09
Water, everywhere water is the source of life, right?
00:23:22
Not only the people of Sagea,
00:23:24
but the mining exploration also impacts
the indigenous people of O Hangana Manyawa.
00:23:32
The only action they can take is to block heavy equipment
from entering the interior of the Halmahera forest,
00:23:38
where they live.
00:23:46
Novenia Ambuea,
00:23:47
a resident of Minamin, South Wasile, East Halmahera,
00:23:51
is one of the women who still has kinship with O Hangana Manyawa.
00:24:01
For the past few years,
00:24:03
Novenia has been involved in activities to protect
O Hangana Manyawa from mining threats.
00:24:10
This is indeed very bad for the O Hangana Manyawa
00:24:13
where they lost their home range,
00:24:18
the area where they hunt, gather
00:24:24
and if you want to see from the video they give a signal,
00:24:29
a sign that this is our forest area,
00:24:32
this is the area where we live, hunt, gather.
00:24:37
So please stop entering this area.
00:24:40
Because that is the only area
where they can live to be able to hunt,
00:24:49
because in other areas it is no longer possible.
00:24:57
Due to mining activities and the nickel industry,
00:25:00
forest cover in the North Maluku region was reduced
by more than 270 thousand hectares from 2001 to 2022.
00:25:59
The loss of forests in parts of Halmahera
is a consequence of mining activities.
00:26:04
Meanwhile, deforestation has not only occurred in Halmahera.
00:26:09
In the last 20 years, at least 300 thousand hectares
of forest have been converted into nickel concession areas.
00:26:17
This area is equivalent to five times the size of the DKI Jakarta province.
00:26:23
Then the next consequence is of course the clearing of forests.
00:26:26
Mineral mining is very closely related to deforestation,
00:26:30
which actually contradicts the emission reduction target
00:26:35
in the context of energy transition.
00:26:37
If forests are cleared, we are talking about
the carrying capacity that will be reduced,
00:26:41
either for the function of water storage
or then for the function of biodiversity,
00:26:47
we have not talked about humans
or the people who depend on them.
00:26:50
The electric vehicle that you are using today on the streets,
00:26:53
you should remember that behind it there is the blood of the people
00:26:57
there is land that has been grabbed from the locals,
00:26:59
there are citizens who have been imprisoned,
00:27:01
there are fishing grounds that have been destroyed..
00:27:04
behind the electric vehicles that are being praised
00:27:07
by the public in Jakarta, Surabaya,
Bandung, Yogyakarta, and so forth.
00:27:13
In the midst of the environmental
impact felt by the residents,
00:27:16
the government is instead providing
various incentives and subsidies.
00:27:20
This is to absorb the downstreaming of the nickel industry.
00:28:11
Nickel will last for 13 years,
00:28:13
but tax-free facilities are given for up to twenty years.
00:28:18
The greed is so overwhelming
that they’re willing to give anything,
00:28:23
‘Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.’
00:28:34
In 2019, only more than 800 units were sold,
00:28:39
but the sales increased almost 30 times
in the early months of 2023.
00:28:48
So, if the public thinks that they have to buy an electric vehicle,
00:28:53
because they think it is to tackle emissions,
00:28:56
I think they are lost.
00:28:59
Because you calculate it when your electric vehicle is in use.
00:29:05
You have to look at the whole process chain,
and downstream is the key.
00:29:16
There are at least four multinational consortiums,
00:29:19
dominated by Chinese companies that are
major players in the country's nickel mining and industry.
00:30:23
So Indonesia's downstream industry in the nickel sector
is intended to support industrialization in China.
00:30:31
So, indeed, these Chinese smelters are meant to sell or
00:30:36
transport almost all of their products to China.
00:30:42
In 2020, China became the primary destination
for Indonesia's nickel exports,
00:30:48
followed by Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Norway.
00:30:54
The added value, who benefits from it?
00:30:58
First, it's the business owners,
00:31:00
who earn profits,
00:31:04
and almost all of the business owners are from China.
00:31:07
So the profits mostly go to China.
00:31:12
Second, the initial capital comes from
Indonesian banks, which fund these projects.
00:31:21
But all the banks are from China,
00:31:23
and they provide loans to the smelters,
earning interest, which is almost 100%.
00:31:34
There's a small fraction, maybe a tiny portion,
from Indonesian banks, but the rest goes to China.
00:31:41
Also, the technology comes from China,
00:31:43
and when it comes to technology, we pay patent fees,
00:31:46
patent fees which all go to China.
00:31:55
The government claims that the country's revenue
from nickel has increased significantly in the past five years,
00:32:01
especially from the export of derivative products.
00:32:05
In fact, President Joko Widodo claims that
the value of nickel exports has reached more than 500 trillion rupiah.
00:32:15
The structure or the part that enters Indonesia,
00:32:20
when Jokowi said that 510 trillion is enjoyed by Indonesia,
00:32:25
I would say 90% of it ran out.
00:32:29
It is not surprising then,
when the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in the middle of last year...
00:32:35
released data showing that poverty levels
in nickel-centered areas actually increased.
00:32:41
It did not have an impact on the welfare of
the people living around the industrial areas.
00:32:54
But despite the value of nickel exports,
00:32:56
the poverty rate in the five nickel-producing
provinces has actually increased.
00:33:02
In fact, the growth rate of the mining sector is moving up.
00:33:40
After all the facilitation provided by
the government for mining activities,
00:33:45
the policies that are decided only in Jakarta,
00:33:48
and the living spaces of the people are being destroyed.
00:33:52
This is the type of nickel produced, and its intended use.
00:35:52
So today, globally,
00:35:56
only about 3% of our nickel is processed
and supplied for electric vehicle batteries.
00:36:04
The majority is still used for stainless steel,
for alloy steel, and other purposes.
00:36:10
So, I think the public needs to understand that
00:36:14
the electric vehicles you're using today on the streets...
00:36:18
might not necessarily come from Indonesian nickel.
00:36:23
If the nickel produced is not for energy transition,
00:36:27
then in whose interest is the exploration
that the government is encouraging?
00:36:31
The part of the oligarchy,
00:36:34
the part of rent-seekers.
00:36:37
Then managing the workers,
00:36:43
there are services and so on,
00:36:46
and among them are the governor's children, and so on.
00:36:50
If you look at the composition,
00:36:52
it's former officials, former generals, or former Toba.
00:36:57
I mean, the Toba group.
00:36:59
It’s quite obvious.
00:37:03
That’s how they have the same interests,
00:37:06
and it’s more comfortable for them
to do business in Indonesia in such a way
00:37:11
because our democracy is deteriorating.
00:37:29
So in this case, this is actually pure business.
00:37:33
It's not really related to
how to address the climate crisis.
00:38:02
How old is this (clove tree), sir?
00:38:04
The age of the clove tree, around 30 years.
