PALU – A riot between workers that occurred at PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (PT GNI), also attracted the attention of the Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) of Central Sulawesi Province (Sulteng), Habib Ali bin Muhammad Aljufri .
Alkhairaat elder admitted that he was concerned about the vandalism incident that caused loss of life at the nickel company operating in North Morowali ( Morut ) Regency, on Saturday (14/1)
Habib Ali hoped that things or events that were bigger than before would not happen. He asked all parties to refrain from doing things that could have bigger consequences.
“After all, investment activities have benefits for the community. Although there were indeed damages arising from the incident,” he said.
According to him, the problems that occur must be resolved quickly. Someone must be able to mediate, because the losses resulting from the destruction were not only experienced by PT GNI itself, but also by other parties, including workers.
“Maybe some of the workers were not involved, but because of the consequences of the incident, they were eventually affected. Maybe also because there is incitement or competition. So what needs to be resolved is who is behind the incident, because it could not have happened on its own, let alone that it had taken the lives of both foreign workers and local workers,” he said.
Therefore, he said, what must appear here is the government and law enforcement to find out the real situation. Don’t later have an unwanted event occur, just move on to finish it.
“There must have been previous problems that shouldn’t have resulted in what it is today, the losses are huge. The government here may also have a loss because this is also related to investment,” he added.
He also asked the company to pay attention to the aspirations of the workers. Furthermore, Habib Ali hopes that if someone comes angry and someone wants to listen, they will usually calm down by themselves.
“We hear all the problems, they will also calm down when someone wants to listen. Listen to what people’s aspirations are, even if we don’t like it. Because it’s not only workers who need companies, but companies also need workers,” he said.
In fact, he said, if the company needed Alkhairaat ‘s presence in mediating, then his party would definitely be ready. This has already been done for a similar problem that occurred at PT IMIP.
“We have done that at IMIP. We can provide guidance for the community around the mining area and within the mining area itself. We can place our imams in the mosques there,” he added.
It is known that the destruction and arson at PT GNI occurred on January 14. This sparked clashes between local workers and foreign workers from China, killing two workers.
The Central Sulawesi Regional Police have detained 17 local workers at PT GNI at the North Morowali Police Headquarters Detention Center. Of the 17 suspects, 16 of them were threatened with five years in prison and another was threatened with 12 years in prison.