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n environmentalist and former national commission member of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Efendi Simanjuntak, has expressed his regrets over the recent Japanese court ruling rejecting a class action lawsuit for environmental and material damages resulting from the Koto Panjang dam.

According to Efendi, the decision would have negative implications on the lives of people living around the Koto Panjang dam in West Sumatra.

Around 8,000 residents currently living around the dam, have been affected by the environmental damage it caused.

"Japan is one country that does not care about environmental issues or people's rights. As proof, their court rejected a lawsuit filed by people who were victimized by their project," Efendi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The lawsuit filed against the Japanese government contained a number of demands from Walhi and residents of 10 villages disadvantaged by the project, he said.

The demands included to restore the damaged surroundings and habitat of elephants and other rare animals, and to take responsibility for the suffering faced by residents whose villages were submerged, Efendi said.

The Koto Panjang dam project, funded using a Japanese soft loan amounting to 31 million yen, engulfed the Kampar Kanan and Batang Mahat rivers confluence area, spanning 124 square km, he said.

The dam, located in Riau and West Sumatra provinces, was built to generate 114 megawatts of electricity.

With the rejection of the lawsuit, the Japanese government had indicated it wished to protect all of its power investments in Indonesia, Effendi said.

"Japan owns many power generating investments in Indonesia, so if *the court ruled in favor of the community* it could have had a domino effect on other Japanese investments in Indonesia," he said.

He added that North Sumatra was also home to a number of power generating facilities financed by the Japanese government, including the PLTA Lau Renun power station in Dairi regency.

On Thursday, the Tokyo District Court rejected the villagers demands for damages after they were evicted from their homes without proper compensation to clear the way for the dam construction project financed by the Japanese government.

The 8,396 villagers sought US$54,250 per plaintiff, or a total of $42 billion in compensation, in the first-ever lawsuit to involve Japanese foreign aid.

The construction of the dam was carried out by Japanese companies, including the feasibility study by Tokyo Electric Power Service Co. (Tesco) in 1980.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the project was conducted in 1991, after 16,954 people were forcibly evicted from 10 villages in the area.

Thirty-one elephants were also relocated, 25 of which later died after failing to adapt to their new environment.