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'Jokowi, help us': Activists reject plan to develop road traversing forest areas
One of the banners used during the protest was emblazoned with the words “Jokowi, help us. Reject the proposal for a mining road traversing the remaining forest area in South Sumatra-Jambi borders”.
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One of the banners used during the protest was emblazoned with the words “Jokowi, help us. Reject the proposal of mining road traversing the remaining forest area on South Sumatra-Jambi borders”. (The Jakarta Post/Jon Afrizal)
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ctivists from a coalition of 36 civil society groups have protested a proposal to build a 31.8-kilometer-long mining road that they say will damage the ecosystem in the forestry area of Jambi and South Sumatra, asking President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s support to halt the plan.
The road was proposed by coal mining company PT Marga Bara Jaya and the permit was being processed at the Environment and Forestry Ministry, according to members of the coalition.
Members of the NGOs based in the two provinces held a protest over the plan on Saturday, unfurling banners in the location of which the road was set to be constructed in Batanghari Leko subdistrict, Musi Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra.
One of the banners used during the protest was emblazoned with the words “Jokowi, help us. Reject the proposal for a mining road traversing the remaining forest area in South Sumatra-Jambi borders”.
Jambi People’s Justice Foundation (YKR) director Musri Nauli said the activists rejected the plan to build the road since it would affect the forest landscape along the Kapas and Meranti rivers in South Sumatra, as well as the Kandang River and upstream area of the Lasian River in Jambi.
“The areas cover the remaining lowland forests in Sumatra, so if a mining road is built in [the area], it will disturb the ecosystem,” Musri said.
The construction of the road was first proposed by the mining company in 2013 to transfer coal from the mining location in Musi Rawas regency in South Sumatra to the company’s stockpile in Pulang Gading village on the banks of the Bayung Lencir River in the same province.
