Journal of Political Sciences & Public Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Mining Exploitation Policy and Poverty of Local Communities

Uhaib As’ad M

This paper describes the dynamics of the exploitation of natural resources exploitation activities, especially the extractive industries of coal mines that have been going on since tens of years ago. South Kalimantan Province, Indonesia is known as one of the areas that has the potential of coal resources, but so far not directly proportional to the social welfare and economic community in general and especially for local communities located in the mining location. The massive mining industry only provides benefits and benefits to a handful of people, especially local authorities, rulers, or people within the circle of local rulers as business cronies. In addition, the mining economy is also enjoyed only by people who have business networks with mining entrepreneurs, such as security forces such as soldiers and police, political parties, and other interest groups. In the meantime, in general, the community, especially the local people only gets a complex impact, such as environmental damage, pollution, and loss of economic resources, destruction of social values and poverty of local communities. Of the policies and regulations of the mining policy that are impartial to the public interest and only benefit mining predators of the chaos of the mining policy becomes the arena of the occasion of conspiracy between local authorities, local elites with mining entrepreneurs. This fact has reflected as the tragedy of the commons as explained by Garrett Hardin and Jeffrey Sachs in some of his work on the exploitation of natural resources curse.