Indonesian President: Environmental NGOs Are Friends, Not Foe

Ezra Sihite Jakarta Globe 10 Jun 13;

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sought to bolster his environmental credentials on Monday by inviting pressure groups and environmental observers to both scrutinize and provide expertise to improve Indonesia’s environmental record.

“I invited Greenpeace to partner with Indonesia with the aim of providing criticism and to correct us if there are things that are not yet right. We also ask for their views or recommendations or the best option from the perspectives of good environmental management,” Yudhoyono said.

The remarks formed part of a speech at the State Palace to mark World Environment Day.

While apparently inviting criticism of Indonesia’s environmental policy, the president invoked a popular West Sumatran saying (“If the food is not good, tell me about it. If the food is good, then tell others about it”) to emphasize that credit should be given when credit is due.

“I want to provide an example: we should not be against environmental NGOs, They should be made partners and friends so that the future of the environment and the state becomes better,” he said.

SBY Now Welcoming of Foreign NGOs
SBY’s new stance belies his administration and party’s hostility to foreign NGOs
Novi Lumanauw & Ezra Sihite Jakarta Globe 10 Jun 13;

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has embraced foreign nongovernmental organizations as valuable partners in the development process, in a marked break from his own party and administration’s often hostile attitude to such groups due to their criticism of government policies.

Speaking at an event at the State Palace on Monday that was meant to mark World Environment Day, which was last Wednesday, Yudhoyono said it was important for the government to work together with foreign NGOs.

“Don’t be against foreign NGOs. Make them your partners, your collaborators and friends,” he said.

“Work with them, not against them. That way we can ensure a better environment and a better country in the future.”

He added that a lot of suspicion among most Indonesians remained, propagated by politicians, including the notion that foreign NGOs in the country were working on their own insidious agendas and did not have Indonesia’s best interests at heart.

Yudhoyono said this kind of misconception was particularly evident in the environmental sector, with green groups commonly seen as opposing forest clearing for oil palm and pulp and paper plantations in a bid to undermine Indonesia’s economic development.

“There are still some problems on that front. We have a lot of work to do to resolve our environmental issues, so let’s partner up with [the foreign NGOs] to work on these issues together,” he said.

He cited Greenpeace as a prime example of a group that his administration was working closely with on environmental affairs, noting that although it was often harshly critical of government policies, the two sides shared the same goals of achieving sustainable development.

“I’ve invited Greenpeace to partner with Indonesia, for the purpose of pointing out and correcting any steps we take that aren’t right,” he said.

“We also want them to offer their views and recommendations, as well as the best options for moving forward, in the best interests of the environment.”

While inviting criticism on Indonesia’s environmental policies, the president invoked a popular West Sumatran saying “If the food is not good, tell me about it. If the food is good, then tell others about it,” to emphasize that credit should be given when it was due.

Democrat legislators have been among politicians pushing for foreign NGOs to either be more closely monitored or expelled from the country. Chief among them is Marzuki Alie, the gaffe-prone speaker of the House of Representatives, who famously raised eyebrows in April 2011 when he called for the United Nations Development Program’s office at the House complex to be shut down, mislabeling it as a foreign NGO.

Authorities have been paying particular attention to Greenpeace for its various campaigns pressuring major companies regarding their questionable environmental stewardship.

Last week, Yudhoyono visited Greenpeace’s iconic ship, the Rainbow Warrior, at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port — almost three years since his administration barred the same vessel from docking in the country in the wake of its campaigning against pulp and paper and palm oil companies.

The government also barred the Greenpeace UK director from entering the country in October 2011 for a forestry conference, even though he arrived with a valid visa. The government said the reason for the refusal was a “state secret.”

A week later, a Greenpeace forest campaigner was deported from the country. By November, authorities in Jakarta had ordered the organization to leave its office in Kemang on the grounds that the area was strictly a residential zone, despite the fact that hundreds of office, commercial and entertainment businesses also operate in the same area.

Critics say Yudhoyono’s change in attitude toward foreign NGOs is part of a wider campaign to polish his image in the final year of his presidency.

Still, the president managed to get riled by a television report on deforestation in the country and the impact to the iconic and critically endangered orangutan, saying that such coverage was unbalanced and only focused on “the extreme negatives” found in Indonesia.

“I woke up at about 3:30 this morning and I watched a foreign TV channel, let’s call it A. I saw a long report about deforestation in Indonesia,” he said.

“If such reports are exaggerated, we have to call them out. Just because a program is interesting, that doesn’t mean it should leave out the overall situation in Indonesia. It’s that kind of perspective we need to correct if it gets out of balance.”

While not naming the channel, the president was most likely referring to Al Jazeera and an episode on its hour-long Witness program titled “Green: Death of the Forests.”

The station describes the program as “a visual essay about deforestation in Indonesia as experienced by a dying orangutan whose habitat has been destroyed.”

The show airs again at 8 a.m. on June 11 and 1 p.m. on June 12.

Indonesian Growth Must Not Threaten Environment: SBY
President marks World Environment Day by urging government at all levels to factor in nature
Jakarta Globe 11 Jun 13;

Economic development in Indonesia should not come at the expense of the environment, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during celebrations to mark World Environment Day at the State Palace on Monday.

“One should not go to the extremes, such as by saying, ‘It is OK for the environment to be damaged, what’s important is that our economy continues to grow,’ ” the president said, adding that the government was committed to preserving the environment. “Development that damages the environment is not a choice for us.”

In his speech, Yudhoyono called on every level of the government, especially regional leaders such as governors, mayors and district heads, to share his concern toward the environment. He called on regional governments to review policies that may endanger the environment.

“It displeases me if there are those among us, including governors and others, who are negligent toward the environment,” he said. “In gubernatorial elections, vote for those who care about the environment. [Those] who really care, not just during their campaign.”

Yudhoyono said he was aware of many regional leaders who issued business licenses that contravened the 2009 Environmental Law. “These licenses do not fulfill the environmental aspect of the requirements,” he said.

In response to those problematic licenses, the president said he had asked Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi to cancel regional policies that were inconsistent with national laws.

He encouraged regional heads to implement policies according to the law, adding that he did not want to hear of governors or other regional heads being caught by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the police, or prosecutors for environmental violations.

“This is not just about the standards of the environment, but also about the law,” he said.

“As leaders we [should] care for our environment, considering our future generation is part of the leadership, part of our responsibility,” he said.

World Environment Day, which is endorsed by the United Nations, this year fell last Wednesday.

A billion trees

During a meeting with Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo on Friday, Yudhoyono said he was committed to protecting the nation’s forests.

“Surely Greenpeace knows that we are highly committed to protecting the environment. We plant one billion trees every year in hope of growing a greener and healthier Indonesia in the next 30 years,” Yudhoyono said. He added the government would continue to push for the protection of forests and fight illegal logging.

The president said efforts to protect Indonesia’s nature would go on at least until he left office late next year, before which time significant progress was promised.

“I admit there are several issues and challenges that need sorting, but these things will be answered in the future when the public’s awareness and understanding has increased,” he said.

In his speech at the palace, Yudhoyono said that environmental issues should be included in the school curriculum.

“The six years of elementary level and three years of middle school … is a formative period for students, meaning it is still possible to build children’s characters at those ages,” the president said.

Yudhoyono said he had instructed Education Minister Mohammad Nuh to include environmental studies in the national curriculum. The curriculum would include climate change.

The president encouraged teachers to foster care for the environment among their students through activities such as tree planting.

In his speech, Yudhoyono recalled being angered during a school visit when he came upon poorly maintained rooms.

“Even the teachers’ room was a mess,” he said. “Discipline, love for each other, honesty, all of those qualities can be formed from an early age.”

Enforce the law

Several environmentalists said that Yudhoyono could achieve much for the environment by enforcing existing laws and punishing those people damaging the environment and illegally cutting the country’s forests. Such action would not require additional regulations.

“We have enough laws and regulations. The president only needs to punish people or officials violating them, such as illegal loggers and companies or individuals burning the forests,” said Syahganda Nainggolan, chairman of the Sabang-Merauke Circle. He said illegal logging and environmental damage would not be reduced if there was no deterrence through punishment of guilty parties.

At Monday’s celebration, the president also awarded several individuals, organizations and government representatives for their contribution to preservation of the environment.

The president handed out 18 Kalpataru awards, seven Adipura Kencana awards, 33 Adipura awards to cities receiving the award for the first time, 22 Adiwiyata Mandiri awards and six awards for government entities that had compiled the best Regional Environment Status report.

The event carried the theme “A Change of Behavior and Consumption Habits to Save the Environment.”

“There is an urgent need for each entity, be it an individual or an organization or a country, to change its consumption and production habits or its lifestyle, and strive for sustainable behavior,” Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said at the event on Monday.

While the Yudhoyono administration has talked up its green credentials and commitments, critics say its actions are often inconsistent with its rhetoric.

A key forest-clearing moratorium was meant to go into force at the start of 2011, but the supporting regulation was not signed by Yudhoyono until May that year.

Several months later, it emerged that an ecologically important swath of the Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra, home to the critically endangered Sumatran tiger, orangutan and elephant, had been removed from the original map of protected areas, and was only reinstated following a public outcry.

Critics also argue that Yudhoyono’s new-found concern for the environment is just an image-burnishing measure for his final year in office, given that much of his nearly nine-year presidency was marked by the unbridled clearing of forests to make way mostly for oil palm plantations.