Gabriel thought he had seen it all. A grandfather of four on the remote Indonesian island of Lembata, he has lived through Dutch colonial rule and Japanese occupation. 'Now it looks like my home is going to be destroyed by a businessman from Jakarta,' he says.
Lembata, in Indonesia's far eastern Nusa Tenggara Timur region, is touted as 'the last paradise' by regional government adverts seeking to woo adventurous tourists off the beaten track. Thanks to that same government's policies, paradise, Gabriel believes, will soon be lost to the invading bulldozers and excavators of mining magnate Yusuf Merukh.
Mr Yusuf, an innocent protagonist in the Bre-X scandal in 1997 - history's biggest mining scam which saw international investors lose billions of dollars on a hoax gold find in Borneo - holds mineral exploration rights to at least a third of Lembata. He intends breaking ground on the new mine next year, with production starting in 2011.
According to the tycoon, surveys point to extensive deposits of gold and copper on the 1,300 sq km island. At a recent press conference, he was even reported to have spoken about the deposits being large enough to help 'break US dominance' over global metals prices.
Mr Yusuf knows his business. With the support of government and working with partners such as US mining giant Newmont, he has spent the years since Bre-X exploiting Indonesia's vast natural resources - and become one of the country's wealthiest men.
'It's not about me becoming richer; it's about sharing the benefits,' he insists. 'I faced 15,000 protesters when we [Newmont and Mr Yusuf's Pukuafu Indah subsidiary] opened the Batu Hijau mine on Sumbawa.
'But most of the workers and middle managers were hired from the local community. Now they drive Mercedes, not horse carts ... and when I visit they say, 'Our king is coming'.'