Susilo wants public to shame dirty cities

Susilo wants public to shame dirty cities

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Cipanas, West Java

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged the public on Monday to
become involved in the campaign to make their cities or towns
clean by mocking governors, mayors and regents who fail to
provide a decent environment.

The remarks reflected Susilo's rage at the inability of many
local administrations to make their cities clean, as well as
educating their people about the importance of living in a
healthy environment.

"I want the media to picture and publish dirty cities. A city
with a dirty environment shows the inability of its leaders to
manage their cities," said Susilo in a speech delivered at a
ceremony to commemorate World Environment Day on June 5.

To make the campaign successful, Susilo also urged local
administrations and schools "from kindergarten up to junior high"
to start educating children on the importance of a clean
environment and sanitation.

"I will travel throughout the country to inspect schools. I
will check whether their toilets, bathrooms and yards are clean.
If they are dirty then it means the teachers at the school as
well as the local administration are incapable of doing their
job," he said.

Susilo has earmarked 2009 as a year by which all people will
realize the importance of a clean environment. The government
expects that after 2009, the country will be able to provide a
decent environment for its people.

State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar, meanwhile,
plans to "award" the dirtiest cities as well as the cleanest
every July 5 by rank, as part of efforts to improve the
environment.

"We will rank the cleanest cities down to the dirtiest
annually. With publicizing the outcome, the public will be able
to scorn their local leaders over their inability to clean up
their cities," said Rachmat at the ceremony.

People in the audience, however, were surprised when the
ministry awarded Central Jakarta as the cleanest mayoralty in the
metropolitan category despite the garbage that often piles up on
street corners in the mayoralty.

For the big city category, the award went to the Riau capital,
Pekanbaru; for medium city category, the ministry chose Jepara,
East Java; while for the small city category the award went to
Bangli, Bali.

President Susilo also presented the Kalpataru environment
award to 10 individuals who have preserved the environment.

"These individuals should inspire people in their community to
follow their example in persistently preserving the environment,"
said Susilo when handing over an award to Katrina Koni Kii, a
grandmother of seven, who turned nine hectares of arid land in
Malimaga village, in West Sumba regency, East Nusa Tenggara, into
a valuable plantation.

The 63-year-old Katrina planted cendana (sandalwood) trees,
which are scarce, with her five children in order to provide her
family with sufficient capital for the future.

Sandalwood trees take 40 years to reach a size suitable for
felling and the trunk sells for at least US$700 per cubic meter.
The oil of the tree can be used as perfume and medicine. Katrina
planted the trees in 1979.

"I just planted the trees for my children. I turned the arid
land into a plantation as we don't have any livelihood since my
husband died in 1976. But some of the trees I planted are for my
grandchildren," said Katrina, who does not speak fluent
Indonesian.