3 July 2014- Jakarta, Indonesia.  Indonesia’s presidential candidates expressed aspects of their environmental agenda through their representatives during an evening gathering of news media reporters and nongovernmental organizations. Sponsored by five orangutan advocacy groups (Orang Utan Republik Foundation, The Orangutan Project, Orangutan Conservancy, Orangutan Outreach, and Orangutan Land Trust), the discussion/debate took place at Café Resto, Complex Ismail Marzuki, Cikini, Central Jakarta, Thursday (03/07) and featured Wahyu Widodo, representing the presidential candidate team of Joko Widodo/Jusuf Kalla, and Syamsul Bahri, representing the presidential candidate team of Prabowo Subianto/Hatta Rajasa. 

The discussion/debate on environmental and natural resource matters was moderated by Marwan Aziz, (Beritalingkungan.com or Environmental News) with discussions and questions provided by panelists from Greenpeace Indonesia (Longgena Ginting) and Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists (IgG Maha Adi). The theme for the evening discussion was, “Following the 2014 Presidential Election: The Future of Indonesia's Environment."

A variety of topics were discussed during the evening during which time Wahyu Widodo and Syamsul Bahri explained the vision and mission of their respective candidates for the nation’s highest office. Head of Greenpeace Indonesia, Longgena Ginting, seemed upbeat about both candidates having an environmental agenda in their platform unlike candidates in past elections.  

"It shows the environmental issues are increasingly important," said Longgena.  In fact, the last televised debate before the July 9^th election will cover environment and energy issues.

Syamsul Bahri for Prabowo-Hatta Rajasa, said the environmental problems that exist in Indonesia are due to land degradation, loss of genetic resources in the natural environment (germplasm) and diminishing public concern about the environment.

Syamsul also stated that development-oriented economic growth tends to be exploitative and the resulting consequences on nature will negatively affect the quality of the resource itself.

Syamsul Bahri said that if Prabowo was elected President, he would continue the environmental policy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as it promises to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent or 41 percent with international assistance in 2020. "But the government Indonesia needs to strengthen the climate negotiations in international forums, "he said. 

Syamsul went on to say, “Prabowo would seek to develop the use of renewable energy sources such as vegetable and other alternative energy sources.”

Wahyu Widodo discussed a Jokowi-Kalla approach to managing the environment.  It needs to be extraordinary, and necessary institutions for the fields of environment management and natural resources are needed provide a deterrent for environmental crime.   He said, Jokowi-Kalla will take extraordinary law enforcement actions against violations in the fields of forestry and marine resources in Indonesia.

"Therefore, in order to face the problem of the forest, we need to perform extraordinarily and the laws needs to be enforced strictly. Those who violate laws by illegal logging will be caught and then put on trial, "he said.

For energy issues, Jokowi-Kalla will promote the use of gas for environmentally friendly energy consumption. As for the issue of climate change, Jokowi-Kalla would ratify the decisions of the world body on climate change (UNFCCC) tailored to the interests of Indonesia.

The Jokowi-Kalla team also sees bamboo as an extraordinary plant that can help alleviate environmental problems, including erosion and water consumption as well as providing building material and food (shoots) for villagers and others.

---

When asked about the three main issues of the environment, namely the energy, forests and climate change, the two representatives for the candidates did not give convincing or satisfying answers.  For example, Syamsul said Prabowo-Hatta will commercialize forest areas by 30 percent in each province. "Then maybe we derive (30 percent of the forest area) in every district," he said.

Longgena responded to the statement that Prabowo will utilize 77 million hectares of forest as productive land. "We appreciate the restoration of damaged forests. But the most important is how to maintain existing forests, especially peatlands. There is no compromise on it, "he added.

"We can see clearly in the vision-mission of the program for both presidential teams will still rely on the development of extractive industries and natural resources to sustain our economic growth. Unfortunately, both did not mention the issue of the ecological crisis we face today, "said Longgena.

Longgena explain the principles of sustainability and an environmental justice strategy, vital in the utilization of natural resources, was also not clearly defined, either by the representatives or by the presidential and vice presidential teams.

"Given the speed and damage to our environment today, continuing the practice of resource exploitation as usual will take us to an environmental crisis more severe in the days to come, and we need to worry about this," he concluded.

At the end of the discussion, both presidential candidate representatives promised to listen to the aspirations of environmental activists for the sake of Indonesian environmental improvement.

---

• Prev
• Next