INDONESIA
HISTORY OF GOLD
Brief History
Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets. "Gold is where you find it," so the saying goes, and gold was first discovered in its natural state, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early hominids.
Gold was the first metal widely known to our species. When thinking about the historical progress of technology, we consider the development of iron and copper-working as the greatest contributions to our species' economic and cultural progress - but gold came first..
The "Gold of Troy" treasure hoard, excavated in Turkey and dating to the era 2450 -2600 B.C., show the range of gold-work from delicate jewelry to a gold gravy boat weighing a full troy pound. This was a time when gold was highly valued, but had not yet become money itself. Rather, it was owned by the powerful and well-connected, or made into objects of worship, or used to decorate sacred locations.
In the quest for gold by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Indians, Hittites, Chinese, and others, prisoners of war were sent to work the mines, as were slaves and criminals. And this happened during a time when gold had no value as 'money,' but was just considered a desirable commodity in and of itself.
NUSANTARA GOLD HISTORY
Srivijaya Era
Sumatra Island during the Srivijaya period was referred to as "Swarna dwipa" or golden earth because of the wealth of gold contained on the earth of Sumatra. At that time the Malay kingdom was very rich because of its golden wealth. No wonder Srivijaya then conquered the Malay kingdom so that Srivijaya was very rich because of its gold. Various relics of gold were found in Rantaukapastuo, Muarabulian, Jambi, including the Malay-Sriwijaya-style Avalokiteçvara gold statue and various other relics made of gold.
Kingdom of Ancient Mataram Era
During the kingdom of Ancient Mataram gold was also a symbol of the country's prosperity. Various royal relics such as crowns made of gold were found in the Prambanan area of Klaten. In addition, in August 2010 we were shocked by the disappearance of the gold jewelry collection of the Ancient Mataram kingdom at the Jogja Sonobudoyo Museum.
In addition to various kinds of statues, crowns and gold jewelry, it turns out that the Ancient Mataram kingdom also had gold coins around the year 850/860 AD. These gold coins are:
- Masa (Ma), weighs 2.40 gram
- Atak, weighs 1.20 gram
- Kupang (Ku), weighs 0.60 gram
- ½ Kupang (0.30 gram)
- Saga (0,119 gram).
Majapahit Era
One of the biggest kingdoms in the archipelago is Majapahit. According to Kakawin Negarakertagama (1365) by Empu Prapanca, Majapahit's territory includes Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the southern Philippines, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara to Papua. An Italian account of Majapahit was obtained from the travel record of Mattiussi, a Franciscan priest in his book: "The Journey of the Pastor Odorico da Pordenone". He mentioned that the Majapahit king's palace was very luxurious and awesome, full of gold plated! Besides the kepeng coins, the use of gold coins as big as jangung seeds also began to flourish in the Majapahit era. Many gold currencies are found on the Majapahit site, mostly in the form of "Ma" money (short for māsa) in Nagari letters or sometimes in Old Javanese letters. In addition to "Ma" there were also gold coins in tahil units, which began with the words "ta" in Nagari letters. Both types of currencies weigh between 2.4 - 2.5 grams.
The book Negarakertagama also mentions that the Majapahit king's convoy decorates the train with various gold jewelry. Especially in every state banquet or large party, all party and banquet equipment made of gold decorated with beautiful gems, including a betel nut box wrapped in gold. It is said that the story of Majapahit's heyday, the Segaran pool which was originally the concubine's bathing place was also used as a place for the royal family's spree. If there is a large party or royal banquet, all eating utensils from gold that have been used are immediately thrown into the middle of the Segaran pond!
Indonesia Gold Mining History
History of Mining in Indonesia begins with mining activities carried out traditionally by residents with the permission of local authorities (such as, the King, or the Sultan). When the Dutch Government then formed the VOC in trading mining products which later formed Dienst van het Mijnwezen (Mijnwezenn-Dinas Pertambangan).
Entering the 20th century, mining exploitation by the Dutch East Indies government increasingly stretched. Many established multinational mining companies include: Royal Dutch (oil mining company in Pangkalan Brandan, North Sumatra), Billiton Maatschappij (tin mining company in Belitung), Mijnbouw Maatschappij van Zuid Bantam (gold mining company in Cikotok, Banten), Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (oil mining company in Balikpapan), and Nederlandsche Nieuw Guinea Petroleum Maatschappij (oil mining company in Papua).
Currently, Indonesia produces around four percent of global gold production, half of which originates from the giant Grasberg mine, the world largest gold mine, on the western half of Papua. This mine, which is believed to contain the world's largest gold reserves (67.4 million ounces), is majority-owned by the American company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and makes it the largest taxpayer to the Indonesian government. But much tension surrounds activities in this mine. A string of violent attacks (including assassinations, robberies and sabotage) have been witnessed since the era of Reformasi. Two underlying reasons for this situation are the ongoing quest for independence of Papua by the Free Papua Movement, and the feeling of resentment by Papuans (and other Indonesians) against a foreign company that manages to profit disproportionally from the country's natural resources. Being situated in a province where the rate of relative poverty is among the highest in the country, makes this issue even more sensitive. Problems related to the aforementioned have temporarily disturbed production rates in the past and disruptions will - most likely - occur again in the future as the underlying reasons cannot be solved on the short or middle-long term.
