Ethics position towards the exploitation of manganese material in Oenbit Village, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Abstract

Oenbit village is an area that is located in the district of Timor Tengah Utara (TTU), Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. In Oenbit ongoing a conflict between the economic interests of some parties namely the government, corporation and the local indigenous community. Government of Timor Tengah Utara give legal permission to the Elgari Resources Indonesia (ERI) Company to exploit the mining of Manganese in Oenbit Village which informally is the ancestral land of indigenous peoples Oenbit hereditary called pusuf kelef and Kot-tau niap-tau (king land). Oenbit society has an ethical belief that the ancestral land Oenbit should not be produced by outside parties besides the local community on the orders of the king. Manganese exploitation in Oenbit Village cause problems contradictorily interesting to reflect on the ethical-philosophical. This paper aims to reflect the ethical position against cases of exploitation of manganese in the Oenbit Village with focuses on the local government's decision to issue a permit exploitation and ERI Company exploit Mangan assumed unethical traditional indigenous tribe Oenbit. The study found that the district government and ERI Company has violated the public ethics and society traditional law, especially the rights of local indigenous communities by exploiting manganese material. The method used is the reflection of philosophy with ethical approaches and relevant ethical theories.