Action imperative
Action imperative
At last it seems that the voices of concern over the
continuing willful destruction of our living environment are
being been heard. Bapedal, which is the government's
Environmental Impact Management Board, made a strong statement
public a couple of days ago. It is calling for a halt to the
construction of a golf course on Bira Besar Island in the Seribu
Island group and the restoration of the islands' natural
environmental conditions.
As was widely reported earlier this week, extensive tracts of
woodland and coral beds have been destroyed on the 30-hectare
(45-acre) island just outside of Jakarta Bay over the past few
months to make way for a nine-hole golf course, complete with
clubhouse and luxury cottages.
Although work on the golf course and its supporting facilities
and infrastructure is reported to have started last year, public
concern over the fate of the island and its marine surroundings
began to spread only after the Indonesian Environmental Forum,
Walhi, started investigating the project and found that it was
carried out in disregard of any proper environmental
considerations.
Apparently, the proposal for the construction of the golf
course on Bira Besar Island by PT Pulau Seribu Paradise was
submitted to the Jakarta municipal administration last year.
However, the Walhi report states that the authorities were
reportedly still working on the required AMDAL environmental
impact assessment papers for the project, when it was found that
the golf course was already practically completed.
The reports says that as a result the island has been stripped
of its original vegetation cover and the former woodlands
replaced by manicured grass. Only bits of the original vegetation
are left along the beaches. Nor has the island's surrounding
marine environment been spared. Sand was quarried and coral beds
destroyed to obtain construction material. Although no accurate
estimate as to the full extent of the damage has as yet been
made, much of the natural habitat of fish and the other creatures
that live around coral reefs have been devastated.
At this point, as the Walhi report also notes, there is, of
course, little use for the issuance of even a favorable AMDAL
environmental feasibility assessment, since the project is as
good as completed. Nevertheless, Bapedal's statement comes as a
relief, even though it may be difficult to see how it will be
possible for the developer, PT Pulau Seribu Paradise, to restore
the island to its original conditions, as Bapedal is demanding.
At best, what the developers can do is to cooperate and suspend
any further construction until the proper papers are obtained,
while doing what it can to restore the island's natural
environment -- which obviously is not a short-term assignment.
What is most gratifying in this case is the stand which the
authorities in charge seem to be taking about the matter.
Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, in a separate
statement, said that he has assigned his staff to assist the
Jakarta municipal authorities to solve the problem. "In the
meantime, I suggest that people don't play golf there," he said.
With the frequent reports that are circulating about the
willful destruction of our environment, it is certainly time that
we all take a firm stand against such offenses.
As Indonesians, who are naturally disinclined to speak out, we
have perhaps in the past tended to be too forgiving toward
offenders in such matters. But unless firm measures are taken
now, we are afraid that more and more unprincipled individuals
will be tempted to make use of this habit, to the harm of the
majority of Indonesians.