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.