Clean river campaign is a total failure

Clean river campaign is a total failure

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It is called the office of the Clean Ciliwung Campaign - which is
supposed to conduct activities to clean Ciliwung and other rivers
in the city, but the two-story building is quiet.

Two homeless people were seen having a nap on the verandah of
the two-story building when The Jakarta Post visited last week.

There was no one else but Husein, a cigarette vendor who was
in charged of the office.

"I am the only one who is here while the officials rarely come
here, not even once a week," Husein told the Post on Thursday.

The office is located in a strategic place on Jl. Penjernihan
in Tanah Abang district, Central Jakarta. Just behind the
building flows the Ciliwung River.

The building itself is in a poor condition. There are holes in
the roof which allows the rain to pour in. The telephone does not
work.

The office of the Clean Ciliwung Campaign was constructed in
1994 on land belonging to the City Cemetery Agency and opened by
then city governor Surjadi Soedirdja in 1996, according to
campaign coordinator Rahmat Salam.

He told the Post, who called him at his house, that the office
was built with aid from Japan, but he could not remember the
cost.

The Clean Ciliwung Campaign is part of the clean river
campaign launched in 1989 by the then minister of environment
Emil Salim.

At the city level, the program is under the coordination of
the Environment Management Body (BPLHD) which involves several
agencies like the Public Work Agency, the Park Agency and the
Sanitation Agency.

Despite the campaign, Ciliwung and 12 other rivers flowing
through the capital remain heavily polluted, not only with
household garbage but also with industrial waste.

Rahmat said that Clean Ciliwung Campaign was supported by 64
organizations in the capital, including the University of
Indonesia's (UI) environmental studies department and various
non-governmental organizations.

Each of the 64 organizations used to voluntarily pay Rp
120,000 a year to cover the daily operational costs of the
campaign, said Rahmat, who is from the UI's environmental studies
department. Two years after the campaign was launched, however,
they stopped giving the donation.

The city administration does not make any donations to the
Clean Ciliwung Campaign, Rahmat said.

"As there is no fund, our joint campaign is stagnant now. But
each organization does their activities individually," he said.

Fetri Mayandi of Jakarta-based Indonesian Forum for the
Environment (Walhi), said on Saturday that almost all NGOs had
withdrawn their support because they believed the campaign was
not independent.

"NGOs withdrew support after Jakarta's deputy governor for
development affairs was appointed in 1994 as the man responsible
for the campaign," he said.

Fetri said in 2000 they held a meeting in an effort to
restructure the Clean Ciliwung Campaign, but they failed to reach
an agreement because UI refused to remove the deputy governor
from the position.

"So far we have not seen any serious, concerted campaign under
the deputy governor's control. There has been no significant
action taken against major polluters of the city's rivers," he
added.