Six companies affiliated with Nusantara held licences for six blocks in the East Kutai district of East Kalimantan province, but did not explore for coal.

ECONOMIST: Mining in Indonesia

But problems abound, even in a place as rich as Kutai.

ECONOMIST: How far should regional autonomy go?

According to Muhammad Darlis, one of Kutai's representatives in the provincial parliament, villages in the regency have nothing to show for the billions of rupiah channelled to them.

ECONOMIST: How far should regional autonomy go?

Syaukani, the regent, as the head of a regency is known, explains that Kutai's budget has risen from 400 billion rupiah to 2 trillion since the autonomy law took effect, even as it lost two-thirds of its population to other regencies.

ECONOMIST: How far should regional autonomy go?

In July 2008, two months after Churchill revealed its discovery, the district chief of East Kutai suddenly extended the six expired licences that had been held by Nusantara's affiliates, even though Churchill's local partner had been awarded new licences for the same area.

ECONOMIST: Mining in Indonesia