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Indonesia blocks sale of license to develop protected Widi islands
The company managing the Widi Reserve, officials claimed, had not obtained the proper licenses to proceed with the Sotheby's auction, including a utilization permit that would address environmental concerns.
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Military personnel from the 1509 Labuha Military Command (Kodim) were deployed this week to one of the islands that make up the Widi Reserve, North Maluku, to fly the Indonesian flag and stake the nation’s claim on the archipelago, which is part of the Coral Triangle ecoregion. (Antara/Abdul Fatah)
T
he government has halted a deal to lease out development rights for more than 100 islands in eastern Indonesia following a backlash over their listing in the catalog of auction house Sotheby’s.
The Widi Reserve in North Maluku, which consists of more than 100 environmentally protected islands and is part of the most biodiverse marine area on Earth, has recently become the subject of “overwhelming interest” overseas.
Exclusive rights to develop the reserve were supposed to go up for sale earlier this month, before Sotheby’s pushed the auction back to early January, but the islands may now be off the market for significantly longer after the government backed out of an agreement with the company managing them.
PT Leadership Islands Indonesia (LII), officials claimed, had not obtained the proper licenses to proceed with the auction, including a utilization permit that would address environmental concerns.
“The government will cancel the [memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PT LII] since the procedures carried out were not in line with the applicable regulations,” Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said at a press conference live-streamed from Jakarta on Wednesday.
“They also haven’t fulfilled parts of the MoU themselves, so we’re terminating it.”
The announcement was made after Mahfud convened a crisis meeting with several Cabinet members, including Home Minister Tito Karnavian, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar.
