Fish farmers complain of alleged misuse of funds

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fish farmers of Rawamalang, Cilincing in North Jakarta, alleged deception on Tuesday in the disbursement of funds promised by the city administration in compensation for damage to their fish ponds caused by liquid waste from a city dump.

Edy Djubaidi, who led fellow fish farmers in a meeting with City Council Commission D overseeing development affairs to file the complaint, revealed that the city officials kept on changing their statements on the amount of the promised compensation.

"Earlier, we were informed that we would receive Rp 270 million (US$31,952) to be shared among 26 fish farmers. But the official later changed it to Rp 217 million for 90 fish farmers in Cilincing and Marunda, North Jakarta," he told the councillors.

With that amount, each of the farmers would receive only Rp 2.4 million which would barely cover their losses.

Edy claimed that he had made a field check in Marunda and found that none of the fish ponds in the vicinity had been affected by the seepage of toxic waste generated by the open dump.

In an effort to seek clarification, Edy and 25 other fish farmers accompanied by Azas Tigor Nainggolan of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), also met with the assistant to the Jakarta City Secretary for Development Affairs, IGKG Suena.

Suena claimed his second statement was correct. "I gave incorrect information at that time. The fund is actually Rp 217 million, not Rp 270 million as stated earlier," he said, adding that the fund will be taken from the city's emergency fund.

However, Suena promised to ask the Jakarta Fishery Agency and Finance office why they planned to give such a small amount in compensation.

"The fish farmer's have a right to receive the fund," he said.

Another fish farmer, Salim Atmaja, lamented that the fishery agency had made an assessment of the losses incurred without consulting the farmers.

Previously, the farmers had demanded Rp 774 million in compensation. The farmers asked that the amount be calculated taking into account the expenses needed to rehabilitate the polluted farms and potential lost earnings during that period.

The administration closed the dump last month after the Office of the State Minister of the Environment and urban activists revealed that the area around the dump became heavily polluted after the site was first used on Jan. 4.

The seepage of liquid waste from the trash dumped at the temporary dump that flowed into a canal had killed thousands of fish and shrimp in 35 hectares of fish farms in the vicinity.