Ginting works to win public support<\/p>\n
Moch. N.Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Funding sources may not seem too sensitive a topic, but when a
\nnon-governmental organization (NGO) is directly questioned about
\nthe source of their funds, it can be hard for them to answer, and
\nat times even upsetting.<\/p>\n
Longgena Ginting, the new executive director of the Indonesian
\nForum for the Environment (Walhi) -- the country's largest and
\nmost powerful environmental NGO -- said that this question often
\nputs him in an uncomfortable situation.<\/p>\n
\"When NGOs say their funds come from foreign donors, people
\ninstantly laugh, accusing you of representing foreigners and not
\nthe people in this country,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"This question is very cynical and it has become the source of
\na bad campaign for NGOs. We have to start changing it. We should
\nbe able to cut down on funds from foreign donors and raise funds
\nfrom the public,\" said Longgena, who started leading the
\norganization in June of last year after joining it at a national
\nlevel in 1996.<\/p>\n
He said increased public funding would indicate people's
\nstrong support toward the organization, thus strengthening its
\nlegitimacy while at the same time, making the organization work
\nhard to be more accountable to the public.<\/p>\n
Unlike some people, who never use the good ideas they have,
\nGinting has put his to work by setting up Walhi's public fund-
\nraising division.<\/p>\n
\"It's not an easy job, but we hope that in the next five years
\n50 percent of our funding will come from the public and in 10
\nyears, we will no longer need foreign donors,\" said Ginting, who
\nmarried Eva Castener, a Spaniard and his colleague from Plasma,
\nan NGO from East Kalimantan. They both have a daughter.<\/p>\n
He insisted that efforts to set up the new division were not
\nsolely about money, but more about legitimacy. \"Just imagine, if
\nwe could get 200,000 supporters who were willing to financially
\nsupport us, our fight would be more legitimate,\" he said. He was
\nreferring to the success of Greenpeace and NGOs in South Korea,
\nwhich relied on grants the general public and did not receive any
\nfrom foreign countries.<\/p>\n
Will his ideas spark a response from the public?<\/p>\n
Ginting said many would be skeptical about his efforts, but he
\npinned his hopes on a survey, which cited that of the Rp 3
\ntrillion in annual public donations, most of them were for
\nenvironment-related causes.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time Ginting has wanted to make a
\ndifference. A few years before he became the director of Walhi,
\nGinting initiated calls for a moratorium on logging amid the
\ndestruction of forests because of illegal logging following the
\nfall of then president Soeharto in 1998.<\/p>\n
Although the government did not impose a moratorium, his
\nefforts raised people's concern for the destruction of the
\nforests.<\/p>\n
Born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra on July 26, 1968,
\nGinting is not a new activist striving to save the forests.<\/p>\n
In 1988, he made a brave move by joining Plasma, a critical
\nNGO in East Kalimantan, when he was a first-year student at
\nMulawarman University's School of Forestry. Plasma is a member of
\nWalhi.<\/p>\n
\"When I entered university in 1988, there was no doubt in my
\nmind but to choose working with an NGO at this part of my life,
\nalthough at that time, the government was always suppressing
\ntheir movement and some activists would go missing or get
\nkidnapped,\" Ginting said.<\/p>\n
At that time, many thought that he was not being wise by
\njoining a local NGO as it would put him in a vulnerable position
\nwith the government and the military. The NGO was located far
\nfrom the spotlight of the mass media in Jakarta, which meant
\nthere was a lack of publicity in case something did go wrong.<\/p>\n
For Ginting, the threats became a challenge for him to become
\nmore creative in taking legal precautions to voice people's
\ninterests.<\/p>\n
His form of grassroots activism once inspired him to lead
\npeople to an area in East Kalimantan to simply sit down and to
\nstop the trucks from taking over the land.<\/p>\n
\"We took action in ways that were not against the law so we
\nwould not get arrested by the government,\" Ginting said.<\/p>\n
During his time in Plasma, Ginting and his colleagues launched
\nat least two important campaigns.<\/p>\n
The first was protesting the Kutai administration's arbitrary
\nacquisition of swallow nests from locals who had managed them for
\na long time. The administration turned a deaf ear to this protest
\nand went ahead with auctioning the nests off, which earned them
\nhundreds of millions of rupiah.<\/p>\n
\"We protested their arbitrary claim until the central
\ngovernment got wind of the problem and finally changed the
\npolicy. It is slowly being acknowledged that locals have the
\nright to manage swallow nests,\" Ginting said.<\/p>\n
His second action was an investigation into the management of
\ntimber firm Barito Pacific as it was going to go public through
\ninitial public offerings (IPO). At that time, Ginting and his
\nfriends discovered that Barito's management of its forest
\nconcession was poor and unsustainable.<\/p>\n
\"We announced the results of our investigation to the world.
\nWhat we tried to say at that time was if the general public
\nbought shares in Barito, they would only be contributing to the
\ndestruction of the forest and in effect, violating human rights.
\nIt had a lot of influence on Barito's IPO, although Barito still
\ncarried it out,\" he said.<\/p>\n
For his colleagues at Walhi, Ginting has been successful in
\nhis career with only minor failures. One colleague, Hening
\nTarlan, said it was too early to compare him with Walhi's
\nprevious executive directors, such as Emmy Hafild.<\/p>\n
She suggested Ginting to develop, among other things, his
\npolitical skills as many environmental policies were strongly
\nrelated to politics rather than having professional
\nconsiderations.<\/p>\n
With his 15 years of experience, Ginting might not have
\nproblems in carrying out his job, plans and dreams.<\/p>\n
Ginting has come up with fresh ideas, such as setting up the
\npublic fund-raising division and creating a friendly atmosphere
\nfor the public.<\/p>\n
\"We hope he can help make Walhi's campaign to get closer to
\nthe public a reality,\" Hening said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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