TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Asep Komarudin said his side is ready to face a police report filed by the Cyber Indonesia forum for criticizing President Joko Widodo or Jokowi's speech about deforestation.

“We’ve heard about this report from our media partners, and there has been no call from the police. We will deal with this, even though we are now focusing on the climate crisis which requires concrete action from the government,” Asep told Tempo on Monday, November 15.

Leaders of Greenpeace Indonesia, Leonard Simanjuntak and Kiki Taufik, were reported to Jakarta Metro Police after criticizing the President's speech on deforestation at the World Leaders Summit at the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

Both were reported for criminal acts under the Electronic Information and Transactions or ITE Law. Chairman of Cyber Indonesia Husin Shahab assessed that the environment watchdog submitted false and misleading data on deforestation.

In response to the report, Asep said that Greenpeace is ready to compete with data to prove the data validity. “Greenpeace uses valid, accurate data to the public. We are also ready to have an open debate with the Environment and Forestry Ministry regarding how we analyze it scientifically and intellectually,” he said.

According to Asep, making such a police report might destroy the democratic climate. Criticism of the government should not be responded to by a police report but an open dialogue or debate.

President Jokowi at the COP26 Summit claimed that Indonesia managed to suppress deforestation to its lowest point within the last two decades and rehabilitate three million hectares of critical land in 2010-2019. Greenpeace Indonesia’s data, meanwhile, showed that deforestation had actually grown to 4.8 million hectares (2011-2019) from 2.45 million hectares (2003-2011).

Read: Greenpeace Indonesia Slams Environment Minister's Tweet on Deforestation

DEWI NURITA