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Activists, fishermen urge new minister to halt reclamation project
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Stand for their rights: Hundreds of fishermen occupy reclaimed Islet G in Jakarta Bay on April 17. The fishermen's livelihoods are under threat from the project. (Tempo/-)
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ctivists and fishermen voiced on Friday their concern over newly appointed Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan’s plan to review the Jakarta Bay reclamation project, which they assumed would be continued.
“We’ve seen that currently, the government takes the side of the investors,” the People’s Coalition for Fisheries Justice’s (KIARA) deputy head for information management, Parid Ridwanuddin, said.
He said it was better for the government to improve the quality of life of people who lived around Jakarta Bay, in which many of them were still illiterate, rather than continuing to push forward its infrastructure development plan.
With more optimism, Iwan, a representative of the Traditional Fishermen’s Association, said he expected Luhut to completely halt the reclamation project to protect the source of the traditional fishermen’s livelihood as they used to go fishing in the area where artificial islets were set to be built in the project.
On June 30, Luhut’s predecessor, Rizal Ramli, decided to temporary halt the development of Islet G, one of 17 islets being or to be developed as part of the reclamation project in Jakarta Bay.
He argued the islet's development endangered the environment and maritime traffic as it was being built in between shipping lanes. (wnd/ebf)
