Walhi Likens Jokowi's Strategic Projects to Soeharto's Cendana Projects
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25 September 2023 10:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Zenzi Suhadi, the executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), disclosed the fact that the national strategic project (PSN) on Rempang Island lacked an environmental impact analysis (Amdal) or strategic environmental assessment (KLHS) that should have been conducted before the deal between PT MEG and Xinyi Group was sealed in June 2023.
PT Makmur Elok Graha (MEG) is the developer of the Rempang Eco City project together with China-based investor Xinyi Group.
“PSN Rempang lacks Amdal/KLHS which is mandatory because it (the project) has a big impact on the small island group,” Zenzi said on Sunday, September 24, 2023.
He considered Jokowi's strategic projects ridiculous. “How can a project be declared strategic if there is no calculation (study)?” Zenzi questioned.
According to him, the government's political decisions should have been based on research. But in fact, for Rempang and the new capital city or IKN projects, such studies can be made later to justify or legitimize political decisions.
Zenzi assessed that they were called strategic in order to exert government power. “Jokowi's PSN is like Pak Harto's (Soeharto) Cendana project. It's like 'idols' created to scare people, and maximum officers are deployed,” he said.
The real impacts of the lack of environmental studies have begun to emerge, for example, the unprecedented flooding in Wadas, Central Java, and in IKN, East Kalimantan.
Moreover, the people in Mandalika who insisted on rejecting the relocation are still trapped on their own land with no way out. The tributaries, their source of clean water, are closed and their wells have become salty over the years.
For these reasons, Walhi opposed Jokowi's National Strategic Projects. “They are taking away people's rights and endangering the environment,” Zenzi concluded.
NUR KHASANAH APRILIANI
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