UPDATE 1-Indonesia offers part of Newmont mine stake to local govt

(Updates with details)

JAKARTA, June 21 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central government is offering a quarter of its 7 percent stake in the local unit of Newmont Mining Corp to the regional government where the company's copper and gold mine is located, the finance minister said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo has come under pressure from parliament over the central government's purchase of the 7 percent stake, so the offer looks like a move to get lawmakers off his back and close a long-running saga over the mine's ownership.

Parliamentary attacks last year on the government's bailout of a bank during the financial crisis ended with Martowardojo's predecessor Sri Mulyani Indrawati stepping down.

"The reason is for the national interest. And we believe this is a step further to build the nation," said Martowardojo, without giving further details on why he is making the offer.

Martwardojo clashed last month with parliamentarians, particularly from the Golkar Party, who said the stake should go to the local government instead of being bought by the central government.

Golkar's chairman is Aburizal Bakrie, whose family already indirectly owns a 24 percent in the mine through a consortium with local governments.

"This is a smart way from Agus Martowardojo to shame Bakrie because Golkar will now be forced to accept the scheme," said political analyst Burhanuddin Muhtadi from the polling agency Indonesian Survey Institute.

"With this gesture, Martowardojo is accommodating the local government's wish as well as Bakrie's."

Martowardojo said the regional government has to establish a consortium by mid-August to buy the stake in Newmont Nusa Tenggara, which runs the Batu Hijau gold and copper mine in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara province.

Foreign shareholders in the mine were required to gradually sell a total of 51 percent in the unit to local investors.

Newmont and the other majority owner, Japan's Sumitomo Corp , have already sold a 24 percent stake to PT Multi Daerah Bersaing -- a consortium of the governments of West Nusa Tenggara province, West Sumbawa regency and Sumbawa regency, and PT Multicapital, a unit of Bumi Resources Minerals .

Three-quarters of this local government consortium stake, or an 18 percent economic interest in the mine, has already been transferred to London-listed Vallar , a holding firm owned by the Bakrie family and Nathaniel Rothschild.

The wrangle over the divestment of the last 7 percent stake has already delayed the listing of Newmont Nusa Tenggara on the Jakarta stock exchange.

It had been planned for the second half of the year but is now more likely in mid-2012, Newmont's CEO told Reuters last week. (Reporting by Adriana Nina Kusuma; Writing by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)