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Jakarta: The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said PT Lapindo Brantas should pay the losses to the mud flow victims and not the state.

“If the government pays, it is to help the victim first. Lapindo should then pay it back,” said Komnas HAM's member, Syafruddin Ngulma Simeuleu after meeting Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro at the commission's office yesterday.

The Presidential Decree No. 14/2007 about coping with the Sidoarjo mudflow shows the weakness in the government's role in protecting the public as it regulates the payment of the losses to the victims from the 12 villages excluded in the map approved by Lapindo.

The government made this regulation as there is no decision saying the mudflow is caused by Lapindo while regulation No. 23/1997 about environmental management, said Syafruddin, obliges the company damaging the environment to pay the losses immediately.

Syafruddin recommended the commission to ask government to cancel the Presidential Decree No. 14/2007. “That regulation should be replaced with the new one that fulfills public rights,” he said.

Syafruddin explained that Minister Purnomo acknowledged the Presidential Decree has the potential for new conflict as the government funds from 12 victims is less than the funds already paid by Lapindo.

According to Syafruddin, Purnomo admitted the government’s slow handling of Lapindo due to funding problems.

Lapindo Brantas spokesperson, Yuniwati Teryana, said they will pay the loss based on Presidential Decree No. 14/2007 which only covers the victims from inside the dam. “We will do what the government asks us to do,” she told Tempo.

She said Lapindo cannot just pay the loss as it has to follow the judicial process. She added that the state court for Central Jakarta and South Jakarta had decided Lapindo was not guilty.

The commission today will hear an explanation about the mudflow case from PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya and PT Lapindo Brantas.

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