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Activists slam Jokowi’s vision, calling it not environmentally friendly
Jokowi’s reluctance to push for a more ambitious environmental agenda could be seen in his position toward a forest and peatland permit issuance moratorium.
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South Sumatra forest fire task force members try to extinguish a fire on peatland. (JP/Yulia Savitri)
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upporters of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo cheered when the president-elect gave his first speech on July 14, titled “Indonesian Vision”, after his win in the 2019 presidential election.
The speech highlighted Jokowi’s goals in his second term, which will start on Oct. 20. One of his visions is to lure investment to create more job opportunities.
“Therefore, anything that obstructs investment must be trimmed, such as slow or complicated permit processes, especially illegal charges. Be careful, going forward I guarantee that I will chase, I will control, I will check and I will beat [them] up if necessary! There should no longer be any obstruction to investment because this is the key to creating more jobs,” Jokowi said in his speech.
Unlike his supporters, environmentalists have slammed the president-elect for his speech, saying that Jokowi has abandoned his earlier pledge to protect the environment.
Teguh Surya, the executive director of the Madani Foundation, called the speech “frustrating because Jokowi’s speech omitted his vision regarding the environment as promised prior to the election.”
He referred to Jokowi’s vision and mission during the 2019 presidential campaign, titled “Indonesia Maju” (Indonesia Moving Forward). The program aims to create a developed Indonesia that is “sovereign, independent and with characteristics based on gotong royong [mutual cooperation]” --a repeat of Jokowi’s vision when he first ran for president in 2014.
“We are concerned that the commitment on sustainable development will be totally forgotten in the future, despite the government’s recent effort to push for such agenda,” he added.
