IT was still fresh in the mind of Haji Mitu. He was out fishing that day in August last year when he saw black slicks floating in the waters about 90 kilometers off the coast of Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara. “I didn’t know then what had happened,” he said.

Only later did Mitu learn that the black slicks were oil pouring out from the Montara oil rig at the West Atlas Block in the Timor Sea, off the coast of Australia. The Montana rig, opera