Last week the ACTU in partnership with APHEDA presented an update on the concerning the lawsuit filed by asbestos manufacturers the Indonesian Fiber Cement Association (FICMA) against consumer groups and activists in Indonesia.
A comprehensive timeline of events since 2010 leading up to the FICMA lawsuit and insights about the process to date and its implications were shared by the LION Indonesia and LPKSM Yasa Nata Budi legal team, culminating in how international supporters can help.
Since the 1980s Australia has phased out the use and import of asbestos, with bans coming into effect in 2003. But right next door in Indonesia massive volumes of white chrysotile asbestos is imported, manufactured and used in construction with no regulation. Indonesia is the second largest asbestos importer in the world with an average of 10% of all buildings being roofed in asbestos sheets – in some highly populated areas as many as 70%. As sobering fact in a country prone to earthquakes and landslides regularly turning buildings to rubble.
With declining asbestos demand worldwide, a powerful asbestos lobby group is targeting anti-asbestos activists and consumer groups in efforts to promote asbestos as safe and expand its market in Indonesia and South-East Asia.
In 2010 Local Initiative for Occupational Safety and Health Network (LION) Indonesia and Indonesia Ban Asbestos Network (INABAN) began a community education campaign to eliminate asbestos-related diseases. The groups also work with emergency services organisations educating personnel in how to protect themselves from asbestos when attending to emergencies in the community.
In December 2023 the Yasa Nata Budi Institute for Consumer Protection (LPKSM) registered a judicial review lawsuit in the Indonesian Supreme Court calling for mandatory labelling and hazard warnings for asbestos-based roofing products in Indonesia. In March 2024 the Supreme Court granted the historic win to LION and INABAN.
In July 2024 FICMA filed an unlawful acts lawsuit directly against LPKSM and individual activists at the Central Jakarta District Court, claiming that they had caused harm to the asbestos industry in Indonesia. In February 2025 the court rejected the lawsuit on the grounds that it was in relation to the Supreme Court decision and the District Court had no jurisdiction or authority to decide the case. FICMA immediately appealed the decision.
It is expected that FICMA will now appeal to the Supreme Court and potentially move forward with more criminal/penal lawsuits against the activists. Based on previous behaviour the activists expect that FICMA will attempt further intimidation tactics and social disruption in its efforts to silence anti-asbestos activism.
LION and LPKSM are seeking statements of support from the international union movement to the Indonesian government for making labelling mandatory for asbestos roofing products. They also seek support from international civil society groups campaigning to stop the explosion of asbestos diseases across Asia.