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Fishermen politicized to oppose reclamation project: Ahok
People take to the streets in Muara Angke, North Jakarta, on Wednesday to protest against a land reclamation project in Jakarta Bay
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span class="caption">People take to the streets in Muara Angke, North Jakarta, on Wednesday to protest against a land reclamation project in Jakarta Bay. (Warta Kota/Angga Bhagya Nugraha via tribunnews.com)
Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama has accused certain parties of politicizing fishermen to oppose a reclamation project in Jakarta Bay and has stressed that no Jakartan will be negatively affected by the project.
'The fishermen just spoke up. What they didn't understand was what they had said. They were [provoked] by politicians,' Ahok said in Jakarta on Friday as reported by tribunnews.com, in response to a recent demonstration by hundreds of people in North Jakarta to oppose the reclamation project.
The Jakarta administration, in cooperation with private companies, is set to construct 17 islands in Jakarta Bay for luxury residences and commercial facilities.
Fishermen and environmental activists have expressed their views that the reclamation would affect fishermen's catches and would have a negative environmental impact on nearby areas, including the possible worsening of annual floods.
The reclamation project has been on the agenda of Jakarta governors since 1995, based on Bylaw No. 8/1995 on reclamation. Then-president Soeharto issued Presidential Decree No. 52/1995 on the reclamation of Jakarta's northern coastal areas. But the reclamation could not be implemented because of strong opposition from environmental activists.
'It is a story that began 20 years ago. There was also a study stating that Jakarta Bay was acutely contaminated, seriously degraded,' Ahok said, adding that an Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) document had been issued long ago.
According to the governor, nearly 51 percent of the results of the reclamation would be used for the public's interests.
The People's Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara) and the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen's Association (KNTI) have registered a petition at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) against Ahok for issuing a gubernatorial decree giving developer PT Muara Wisesa Samudra a permit to build a man-made islet, known as Islet G, off Jakarta's coast.
They said that the permit violated the rights of fishermen in Muara Angke and Muara Baru, who relied on catching fish in the North Jakarta coastal area. (bbn)
