Asia is the main surviving market for asbestos. There are consequences – asbestos is the deadliest industrial killer of all time and the next generation of its victims will be in these Asian markets.

Indonesia is ranked as the world’s third-largest importer and the largest in Southeast Asia. The inevitably fatal consequences of this led Local Initiative for OSH Network (LION), together with the Independent Community Consumer Protection Institute (LPKSM) and the Yasa Nata Budi Foundation to turn in December 2023 to the Indonesian Supreme Court. The Indonesian Ban Asbestos Network (INA-BAN), a group of campaign organisations including LION and trade unions working towards an asbestos ban, supported the case.

Backed by extensive evidence from both local and global research, and free legal representation from Australian law firm Maurice Blackburn, the petition to Indonesia’s top court emphasised the necessity for warning labels on asbestos-containing products. The campaigners won.

The landmark verdict on 19 March 2024 mandated that all asbestos-containing products sold within the country must display prominent warning labels in Bahasa, the official language of Indonesia.

While the asbestos cement industry didn’t have the arguments to sway the court, it did have the resources to intimidate its adversaries. So, asbestos roof sheet manufacturers in Indonesia opted to sue for lost revenue those who brought the successful case to the Supreme Court. 

Immoral fibre

The Fibre Cement Manufacturers’ Association (FICMA) action against consumer protection organisation LPKSM Yasa Nata Budi management and the Indonesia Ban Asbestos Network is demanding US$520,000 (£400,000) a month in damages, with penalty charges of over $300 a day for a failure to pay.

Three LION staff are also being sued personally by FICMA.

FICMA claims that because white asbestos is not listed under the UN Rotterdam Convention – an international treaty governing the exchange of information for hazardous chemical trade – it does not need to be labelled as dangerous.

But attempts to list white asbestos (chrysotile) under the Rotterdam Convention were frustrated not because ratifying governments didn’t believe the move was warranted. It is supported by the overwhelming majority.

Listing under the ‘prior informed consent’ process in the convention requires the consensus of all the 167 countries that have ratified the convention. No more than 10 have ever opposed the move, but this asbestos-friendly minority has vetoed listing since 2006.

The industry case isn’t based on a legitimate legal argument. It is a classic SLAPP – a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation – by vested interests to discourage any criticism or controls.

Sabotage attempt

LION director Surya Ferdian said he was confident they would win the case.  However, he was aware the FICMA legal action was only one strategy Indonesian asbestos manufacturers would deploy to stop the campaign to eliminate asbestos-related disease.

“FICMA’s lawsuit against Yasa Nata Budi is wrongly targeted because we are not making the regulation,” he said. “It is just another delaying tactic to prevent the Supreme Court order from being implemented.” He added: “We won in the Supreme Court. But the court order is still not carried out. It could be some time before the label comes into effect.”

Ferdian said the fight to stop the use of asbestos in Indonesia faced increasing challenges from the asbestos industry. “We are alert that what we are doing for Indonesian public health and safety could be sabotaged,” he said.

Ferdian stressed the importance of global support for their campaign, which has backing already from Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA and global asbestos victims’ organisations.  

“We believe we cannot work alone. FICMA is a huge association with a lot of money and resources. We need regional, as well as international networking to give us strength to face them. Humanity has the power to fight against dehumanisation.”

CONTINENTAL SHIFT  Asia has become the dominant market for asbestos, with its share of global consumption increasing from just over 20 per cent in 1990 to 65 per cent in 2020. Five countries – India, China, Russia and Ukbekistan – now consume 20 per cent all asbestos traded. Figures released on 21 October 2024 show Kazakhstan, Brazil and and China all increased their asbestos exports in 2023. Indonesia’s asbestos consumption reached an eight-year high in 2021, but fell in 2022 and 2023. Leo Yoga Pranata, right, is one of three LION workers being sued personally by asbestos industry body FICMA.

DYING INDUSTRY Since its use peaked in the 1980s, asbestos consumption has fallen by 75 per cent globally, down from a high of almost 5 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes in 2022. Seventy countries have already banned all forms of asbestos.

CEMENTING SUPPORT  Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian national union federation ACTU and assistant secretary Liam O’Brien (right) discuss the Australian union movement’s support for both the Indonesian campaigners and global asbestos campaign. Leo Yoga Pranata (centre) is one of three LION staff being sued personally by industry body FICMA. Ramidi (left), national secretary of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation KSPI, is working closely with the ACTU-backed Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA organisation on the Indonesia asbestos action and on just transition.

ASBESTOS CONSUMPTION  The more asbestos a country uses, the more people will die. The WHO Global Burden of Disease study estimates 4,300 workers are already dying each year in South East Asia from asbestos-related diseases. But Phillip Hazelton of Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA told an October 2024 ACTU healthy work conference in Sydney, that across the continent increasing usage will lead to a surge in deaths linked to the fatal fibre over the next working generation.

COURT WIN  The Supreme Court win came in a LION legal case supported by the Indonesian Ban Asbestos Network (INA-BAN), and the independent community Consumer Protection Institute and the Aysa Nata Budi Foundation. Activists carried posters in Bahasa outside the court saying: “Asbestos. Dangerous Toxic Material.”

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THE ASBESTOS PUSHERS

The decision was clear. The Indonesia Supreme Court gave its backing to campaigners who had argued deadly asbestos cement products must come with a warning label. But instead of accepting the decision, the asbestos industry decided on a different tack – suing the groups who brought the case for £400,000 a month for lost income.

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