Nabiel vs. Sutiyoso?

Nabiel vs. Sutiyoso?

The controversy surrounding the reclamation of 2,700 hectares
of land on Jakarta's northern coastal strip seems to have come to
an end with the shaking of hands by Governor Sutiyoso and State
Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim, after a heated
debate.

Sutiyoso, who was previously defiant in the face of rejection
by Nabiel's office of the huge project, finally bowed to
Nabiel's request to resubmit a new proposal, accompanied by an
analysis of its environmental impact.

On the other hand, Nabiel, who had said that there would be no
guarantee that the new proposal would be approved, seems to be
more lenient and ready to review the proposal. Nabiel's recent
gesture contradicted his previous stance, when he said that a
ministerial decree that rejected a plan could not be revoked and
that the decision against reclamation was final. Nabiel referred
to Ministerial Decree No. 14/2003, which rejects the reclamation
plan.

To further buttress his point Nabiel said that he had asked
President Megawati Soekarnoputri to revoke the presidential
decree (Kepres) issued by president Soeharto, which granted
permission for the development project.

Reclamation plans in the area have drawn controversy since
Soeharto issued a decree to legally back the reclamation project
in 1995 -- a project whose developer happened to be one of his
own daughters.

Public debate on the project, however, was toned down by the
political turmoil that forced Soeharto to step down in 1998. The
Rp 20 trillion project rose to the surface again after Sutiyoso
secured a second term as governor of Jakarta last year.

As the reform movement was set in motion with the fall of
president Soeharto, people gained the courage to speak out on the
reclamation plan. Many, including Nabiel, suggested that Sutiyoso
scale back the project, but still the administration appeared
intent on showing its muscle in order to defend the scheme, at
least until environmental guru Emil Salim said that the plan,
which is projected to cover some 32 square kilometers of coastal
land north of the city, ought to be canceled.

Citing warnings by experts that global warming could
eventually raise sea levels around the globe due to the melting
of the polar ice caps, Emil pointed out that widening the coastal
strip north of Jakarta could increase the danger.

Other environmentalists criticized the plan on the grounds
that the project would worsen flooding in the city, which has 13
rivers. Opposition to the scheme apparently prompted Sutiyoso to
propose a public debate on the subject. That debate had yet to
take place when the recent dispute between Nabiel and Sutiyoso
over whether the project was approved stirred up the old
controversy once again.

Now that Nabiel and Sutiyoso seem to have reached an
"agreement", we can only wait and see. Appropriate action must be
taken to protect the capital city from possible future flooding.

In the meantime, now that the focus of the controversy seems
to have moved on from relations between Nabiel and Sutiyoso, it
is interesting to recall Nabiel's statements made in a talk show
on a private TV station some time in February 2002, just days
after Jakarta's huge floods.

At that time, it may be recalled, Nabiel's stance was that the
flooding was caused primarily by shanties along Jakarta's
riverbanks, and that Pantai Indah Kapuk could not be held
responsible for the deluge. The city administration had done its
best, Nabiel said, yet flooding could not be avoided.

Those were Nabiel's statements when people made the accusation
that development of the Pantai Indah Kapuk waterfront estate
seemed to have caused big floods in Greater Jakarta early last
year.

To many, especially environmental activists, Nabiel's
(previous) stance, in which he rejected Sutiyoso's plan for the
reclamation, was more astonishing. They indicated the rejection
was somewhat strange, given his "defense" of Sutiyoso during the
dire flooding in 2002.

Many may now be puzzled about what really lay behind Nabiel's
maneuvers, while considering it almost impossible for President
Megawati to revoke Soeharto's Kepres, which legalized the
reclamation.

We have been informed that the Jakarta administration's
persistence to proceed with the plan is based solely on
considerations of financial benefit. The city administration is
expecting to earn at least Rp 12 trillion from the project, as
calculated from the market value of some 30 percent of the total
2,700 hectares of land to be reclaimed.

Clearly, the city administration is dreaming of that windfall
profit while belittling the environmental degradation that most
likely will cost the city and its citizens a good deal more in
terms of damage.

Given the "tension and cooperation" between those two
officials, the lesson that the public can draw from the whole
episode is probably that inconsistency among officials appears to
be common, and that financial considerations can leave their
common sense in tatters, at least as far as the environment is
concerned.

While we do not know what exactly is going on in Nabiel's
mind, we can still hope that Sutiyoso and his aides will as yet
show themselves broad-minded enough to seek more reasonable,
acceptable, and noble ways to find money to finance the city's
development programs.