Black Gold Scar
Feny Selly Pratiwi, ANTARA Foto – Palembang

The night of third Eid day (Wednesday, 30 July 2014) was unforgettable for BR. He told his family that he was going out to do molot (local slang that means drilling oil). Who knows, that night he and three of his co-workers was hit by an oil-gas explosion. One of his co-workers died, while he and the other two suffered from quite a bad burn. All four of them did not wear any safety suits or carry fire extinguishers.

After the tragedy, the oil project owner compensated BR one million rupiah monthly for less than two years. Meanwhile KN, BR’s co-worker who died that night after being taken to Palembang General Hospital, was compensated 30 million rupiah – all of which was given to his widow.

The bare minimum wound treatment that BR received caused his skin tissue to clump together and pull his fingers that they could not function normally. To him, the burn in his skin hurts but what hurts more is the fact that he has to live with deformed hands that makes it hard to work like he used to. With the scar, BR needed two years to heal physically and mentally. His wife and children supported and encouraged him to find a job that he can still do albeit his hands are deformed. He finally took on a new job as a vegetable seller and got his spirit back. 

Illegal drilling has taken place in Musi Banyuasin Regency, South Sumatra for over a decade. Although the district government and police corps have joined forces to close over 1,000 illegal wells in the area, the locals are still adamant about participating in the drilling.

In every illegal drilling, fire and explosion poses serious threats to the workers. More so because they are not equipped with safety gears and in terms of employment, their rights are often abandoned.

Yet the risks do little to stop the locals from working as oil miners. The lucrative pay provides a strong boost for the workers to keep doing what they do. Other job options including mantau (rubber tapping) and farming are seen as less appealing than mining. From an industry viewpoint, the high demand in oil makes the drilling of this black gold an unstoppable money maker.