Antinuclear activists walk out of hearing
JAKARTA (JP): Antinuclear campaigners yesterday walked out of a Golkar-sponsored discussion after speakers talked down to them about the positive usage of nuclear energy.
"This is not what we expected," Emmy Hafild of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) said of the gathering led by Awang Faroek Ishak of the ruling Golkar faction of the House of Representatives.
Emmy said the faction invited her and her colleagues to a hearing, as the House is currently deliberating a government- sponsored bill on nuclear energy.
"The invitation said it's a hearing. It turned out to be a lecture," said Emmy whose organization is among the staunchest campaigners against the bill and the government plan to build a nuclear power plant in Central Java.
Emmy requested permission to leave the meeting. Other activists, including those of the Anti-Nuclear Society and the Indonesian Environmental Development Organization, immediately followed her out.
Yesterday's meeting, opened by Golkar faction chairman Moestahid Astari, featured nuclear experts from the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture. It was also attended by pronuclear activists from the Indonesian Nuclear Society who stayed until the session ended.
Among the topics presented yesterday were the advantages of nuclear technology in agriculture, husbandry, medical technology and health, and industry. Moslem preacher Kosim Nurzeha discussed how Islam views brought sophistication to technology.
"We were deceived," Emmy said, pointing out that the invitation had aroused hope among antinuclear activists that they would now have a chance to hold talks with pronuclear campaigners.
"We thought that, finally, we were being given room to express our views," she said, adding that the authorities have always banned discussions on the bill that her organization sponsored.
"The police have never given us permits to hold such discussions," she said.
The bill on nuclear energy was presented by Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie to the House of Representatives two weeks ago.
Critics said the bill was drafted only to give the government legal grounds for the construction of a Rp 21 trillion nuclear power plant at the Muria Peninsula in Central Java.
A feasibility study has already been conducted, despite strenuous objections from many local leaders and environmental organizations. Construction of the plant is scheduled to start in 1998 and complete in 2003. (01)