The fruit of our sins<\/p>\n
Thursday's call by a number of non-governmental organizations
\n(NGOs) for the public to join them in taking action against those
\nparties they deem responsible for the environmental disaster that
\nbefell thousands of residents -- especially those living along
\nthe toll road connecting Jakarta with the Soekarno-Hatta
\nInternational Airport earlier this week -- comes as no surprise.<\/p>\n
In fact, given the NGOs' early opposition to the Pantai Indah
\nKapuk luxury housing development scheme on Jakarta's north coast,
\nwhich they hold responsible for the annually recurring floods in
\nthe area, many people here are asking themselves what has taken
\nthe NGOs so long to implement this long-awaited initiative.<\/p>\n
After all, every year when the rainy season is about to begin,
\nJakarta's residents brace themselves for the recurring floods
\nthat seem to be getting worse and worse as the years go by. Now,
\neven a few hours of moderate monsoon showers cause parts of roads
\nto be inundated, which often causes traffic jams several
\nkilometers long. This is particularly true for the lower lying
\nareas along the north coast, of which the Pantai Kapuk area
\nadjoining the Soekarno-Hatta Airport is one.<\/p>\n
Although accounts given by the officials of what actually
\nhappened vary -- none of which, incidentally, puts the blame on
\nthe administration -- it seems that Tuesday's disaster was
\naggravated by residents, who were threatened with heavy flooding
\nof their area, breaching the dike that was built to protect the
\ntoll road from being inundated by water flowing in from the
\nsouth. To make matters worse, the road itself is prone to sinking
\nsome seven centimeters a year due to soil conditions.<\/p>\n
Before the Pantai Indah Kapuk housing development project was
\nstarted about a decade ago, environmentalists had warned that any
\ndamage to the coastal wetland environment in the area was bound
\nto have dire consequences in the future. Business and money
\nconsiderations, it seems, prevailed. Whole stretches of mangrove
\nstands, and a nature reserve as well, were cleared for
\nconstruction and marshland was reclaimed.<\/p>\n
To critics expressing concern about the destruction of the
\nenvironment, the developer of the project retorted that he would
\ntake full responsibility for his actions. \"If it should be proved
\nin the future that those concerns are justified, I shall be
\nwilling to face trial to take responsibility for my actions,\" he
\nsaid, as quoted by the newspaper Kompas.<\/p>\n
After this week's disaster -- which was, by the way, not the
\nfirst to have occurred -- it seems that the time to take
\nresponsibility has arrived. Compensation in cash could possibly
\ncover some of the damage inflicted on the population living in
\nthe area. What is more difficult to see is how the 813.63
\nhectares of coastal wetland and mangrove stands can be restored
\nin time to prevent similar disasters in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
And of course, too, the developer in question is not the only
\nperson who should be held responsible. Every official in the
\nJakarta administration who at the time granted permission for the
\nproject to go ahead shares that responsibility.<\/p>\n
Sadly, what is happening now in the Pantai Kapuk Indah area in
\nNorth Jakarta is merely one of many similar cases that are
\nplaying out almost everywhere in this country at present, and
\nperhaps on a much larger scale. The unprecedented floods in North
\nSumatra this week that left at least 13 people dead, for example,
\nwould not have happened had Indonesians -- both inside and
\noutside the government -- had a better appreciation and a better
\nunderstanding of the irreplaceable worth of the natural
\nenvironment to our lives.<\/p>\n
All this has been said before -- not once, but many times. But
\ngiven the consequences ignorance will most certainly bring for
\nfuture generations of Indonesians, we consider it worthwhile
\nsaying it once again -- and again, until the message gets
\nthrough.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-fruit-of-our-sins-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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