THOUSANDS of people boarded 74 buses at Terawang, the district capital of West Sumbawa, on Monday last week, most of them civil servants from 17 government agencies in the district. From the town center, the buses moved to Batu Hijau, site of Newmont Nusa Tenggara mining operations, about 20 kilometers from Taliwang.

Outside the Newmont area of operations the demonstrators raised banners and a huge tent, demanding that the remaining 7 percent o