Golf: Complicated game

Golf: Complicated game

In a rapidly growing country, such as Indonesia, one can expect the mushrooming up of golf courses. But the trend has sometimes provoked public concern and anger across the archipelago because the courses are built at the cost of the interests of local villagers.

Many people believe that the development of golf courses is a demonstration of arrogance amid the ugly reality of poverty.

However, never has there been as controversial and complicated a golf-related issue as the development of the course on Big Bira island in Jakarta Bay.

This time the construction caused concerned among environmentalists first and later the concerned authorities. Last year, as the construction started, the influential Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) condemned the activities because the developer, a private company called PT Pulau Seribu Paradise, had blatantly disregarded the disastrous environmental consequences. The forum said that the development of the golf course was highly destructive to the natural eco-system of the island, which is among the 78-island Pulau Seribu chain that belongs to a 108,000-hectare national marine park.

The case took an astounding turn on Tuesday when Jakarta Deputy Governor of Development Affairs Idroes said that the golf course had been developed without a building permit. Earlier reports said the environmental impact analysis for the nine-hole golf course was still being processed by the City Environment Office. The analysis is mandatory and must be submitted by a developer to ensure that any development will not produce unwanted repercussions in the surrounding area.

So, the question now is: How could this breach of law have taken place on an island just a few miles away from the seat of the central government?

At this point no one seems to be able to shed any light on the confusion.

In cases like this, with the Jakarta administration too weak to take concrete action, the public tends to believe there must be powerful persons -- with close relationships or affiliation with certain people in the ruling elite, or huge amounts of ready cash -- behind the illegal development.

The truth of this David-versus-Goliath situation has clearly been confirmed by the fact that even the Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja had not been able to solve the problem on his own.

He complained to President Soeharto last week about the poor environmental condition of Bira Island, mostly the result of the razing of vast tracts of forest vegetation to make way for the golf course project. The head of state, according to the minister, was very concerned at the destruction of the island and has threatened to prosecute the developer if it refuses to abide by the law.

While Minister Sarwono, with the President's statement as a powerful weapon, is busy handling the case, nobody can say yet whether such a problem will repeat itself here.

We sincerely hope this will not be the case. If a minister is forced to go to the head of state to borrow from his authority and to get support from him in every such case of blatant flaunting of the law, what will be at stake is not only the fate of an island, but the government's good name.

The problem actually should have been solved by the Jakarta administration. If only it had been courageous enough to do its job.

Golf is said to be an exciting game, but the construction of courses can involve a complicated marathon of painstaking work and a number of sensitive aspects like the impact on the environment and the local populace.