On Friday (11/5/18), SEA Talk #21 was conducted on “Corporate Power and Global Governance: Australian Miners in Indonesia” with Lian Sinclair from Murdoch University as the presenter. This topic was based on his fieldwork on Australian Mining companies operating in three different locations in Indonesia namely Kulonprogo, Kutai Barat and Halmahera Utara.
Lian discussed that mining companies tend to be benefited from global governance (UN, WTO, and others) when conflicts with local communities occurred. One of strategy of dealing with those conflicts was CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). CSR helped the companies to reduce possibility of clash with local societies as they indirectly involved in companies’ management process. However, many conflicts still persisted because of the localities of the problems.
At the end of discussion, Lian summed up his talk by explaining the cycle of conflict. Conflicts between local communities and companies expanded and then began to attract national public interest. Eventually, they would be discussed in an international forum in one of Global Governance agencies. Companies power then would be strengthened through a series of agreements. Conflicts that were resolved with an international approach tend to be repeated because it only reshaped the conflicts not resolved it. (Endo)