ExxonMobil Corporation looked the other way when its security guards, who are members of Indonesia's military, carried out torture, rape, and extrajudicial execution while guarding its plant in war-torn Aceh.
(Maybe they can change their name to ExxonMobil Hussein)
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laksamana.net
Although the lawsuit is lengthy, legal jargon is sparse, and the document is well worth reading in full to see exactly how Indonesian soldiers on ExxonMobil’s payroll allegedly carried out acts of torture and murder.
The plaintiffs, seven men and four women, are not named in the lawsuit because of fears of deadly reprisals from the Indonesian military.
The words “tortious” and “tortiously” pop up a few times. These aren’t typos for “tortuous” and “tortuously”, but refer to actions involving or constituting a tort in civil law. In other words, wrongdoings for which action for damages may be brought.
The Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund filed the lawsuit on behalf of 11 Aceh residents on June 20, 2001.
ExxonMobil has been trying to convince a US federal court to throw out the lawsuit on the grounds that it could disturb US relations with Indonesia and compromise America's war on terrorism.
The US Federal District Court in the District of Columbia, which is hearing the case, in May 2002 asked the US State Department whether proceeding with the case would jeopardize US-Indonesia relations.
The State Department on July 29, 2002, recommended the lawsuit be dropped, claiming it would "risk a seriously adverse impact on significant interests of the United States, including interests related directly to the ongoing struggle against international terrorism".
The judge presiding over the case, Louis F. Oberdorfer, is not obliged to act on the State Department's opinion, but analysts fear the court may drop the lawsuit.
If Oberdorfer decide not to uphold respect for human rights, but instead crumbles under the might of the world’s richest energy company, the US won’t have a leg to stand on should if it wants to criticize Indonesia’s corrupt justice system or the Indonesian military’s flagrant perpetrations of human rights abuses.
41. The Mobil Companies and Defendant PT Arun were no strangers to the atrocities committed by the Indonesian military during the DOM period in Aceh. At the inception of the Arun Project, the Mobil Companies were specifically aware of the Suharto regime's extreme brutality and the public record of TNI's extreme brutality, particularly with respect to ethnic minorities within Indonesia. This knowledge was repeatedly confirmed by ongoing, specific, and publicly reported acts of terror and violence by the TNI, including those assigned specifically to provide “security” for the Arun Project. By November 30, 1999, when Defendant Exxon Mobil became the parent company of the Mobil Companies following the merger of Exxon Corporation with Mobil, there was a clear public record of pervasive and systematic human rights violations perpetrated upon the innocent noncombatant villagers of Aceh by the TNI troops specifically hired to provide “security” for the Arun Project and that had received direct support from the Mobil Companies and Defendant PT Arun. For example, the Mobil Companies provided logistical and material support to the Indonesian troops throughout the DOM period, including:
(a) the construction and/or provision of buildings and supplies for two military barracks located on or next to the Mobil Companies' natural gas extraction facilities and Defendant PT Arun's liquefication plant, commonly referred to as “Post 13” and “Rancong Camp,” respectively, and which were used by Indonesian “Kopassus” (special forces) units to interrogate, torture and murder Achenese civilians suspected of engaging in separatist activities;
(b) the provision of heavy equipment such as excavators so that the Indonesian military could dig mass graves to bury their Achenese victims; and
(c) the use of roads constructed by the Mobil Companies and/or their contractors to transport the military's Achenese victims to mass graves located near the Mobil Companies' extraction operations and Defendant PT Arun's adjoining liquefication facilities.
Thus, acting upon the ethnic tensions between the Aceh people and the Indonesian government, the Indonesian military used the pretense of providing “security” for the Arun Project to practice genocide on the people of Aceh, and in furtherance of this program, the troops specifically assigned to protect the Arun Project used the facilities at Rancong Camp and Post 13 to round up, torture and slaughter thousands of ethnic Achenese people.
42. The Mobil Companies and Defendant PT Arun knew or should have known that their logistical and material support was being used to effectuate the Indonesian military's commission of the human rights atrocities outlined above. Even if the Mobil Companies and Defendant PT Arun were unaware of these atrocities at the time they were committed, they nevertheless learned of them after the fact, yet thereafter continued to use the same troops for “security,” and even demanded an increase in the number of troops protecting the Arun Project, thereby acknowledging and ratifying the Indonesian military's conduct.
43. Throughout the DOM period, the Mobil Companies and Defendant PT Arun maintained continuous operations at the Arun Project and profited handsomely therefrom, having made billions of dollars in profits.
44. Since the collapse of the Suharto regime in 1998, there has been continuous violence in Aceh of the same character as outlined above. While continuing to serve as Defendants' “security” service, the TNI continues to act without restraint, and continues to practice ethnic genocide. As in other Indonesian provinces, including East Timor and Kalimantan, with knowledge and acquiescence of Defendants, the TNI in Aceh escalated the genocide of the people of Aceh following the fall of the Suharto regime. The ongoing slaughter in Aceh is widely acknowledged internationally, and numerous human rights groups and governmental agencies have documented the international human rights violations. Numerous human rights groups, including several based in Aceh with current information on the genocide of the people of Aceh, specifically requested that the Mobil Companies and now, since November 30, 1999, Defendant Exxon Mobil, cease its operations in Aceh until it could make arrangements to operate without using the murderous TNI for security. These requests were refused, and Defendant Exxon Mobil has instead demanded that the Indonesian military security forces increase the number of troops and take all necessary steps to guarantee the security of the Arun Project, without regard for, and with full knowledge of, the human rights impact on the Achenese people who live near the Arun Project. Moreover, the Mobil Companies and, since November 30, 1999, Defendant Exxon Mobil, have continued to pay for the TNI's “security services” knowing and expecting that the military units specifically assigned to provide them with such services would continue to take any and all actions, including extreme violence of the character and nature described above, in order to ensure that the Arun Project would continue operating without interruption.
45. On or about March 9, 2001, after continuously operating during years of genocide, murder, torture, rape, kidnapping, unlawful detainment, and other human rights violations inflicted upon the people of Aceh by the Exxon Mobil “security” forces, Defendant Exxon Mobil shut down most of the Arun Project because the TNI could no longer “guarantee” the security of the physical facilities of the Arun Project and the Project employees.
46. Defendants took no action or took insufficient action to ensure that human rights violations would not be perpetrated by its TNI security forces using Arun Project support and facilities. As outlined above, Defendants have instead directly supported these human rights abuses by supporting the military security forces in an effort to protect Defendants' interest in the Project. Defendants, in furtherance of the Arun Project, provided direct payments and supplies to the TNI security forces assigned to protect the Project. Defendants have also purchased military equipment for the security forces and have paid mercenaries to provide advice, training, intelligence and equipment to the TNI military in the Project area.
47. Defendants' support of the Indonesian military has also extended beyond the Arun Project area, and includes general support for the TNI to ensure that Defendants' business arrangement with the Indonesian government in Aceh is not nullified by the creation of an independent state for the people of Aceh as the result of a democratic uprising. Defendants' support for the security forces and the Indonesian government is designed to keep the Indonesian Government in power during the life of the Arun Project. The Indonesian military security forces have used funds from Defendants to support military operations designed to crush any dissent within Aceh, and to increase the capacity of the military to engage in repressive tactics against Achenese separatists. Defendants, therefore, directly supported and continue to support the military's reign of terror in Aceh. |
