Walhi files lawsuit against Japan

JAKARTA: A Tokyo court accepted last week a lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Forum of Environment (Walhi) on behalf of local villagers against the Japanese government in connection with the construction of a controversial hydropower project in the Riau district of Koto Panjang.

Lawyer Johnson Panjaitan said on Wednesday that the court approved the case, and said it was deemed legitimate to represent the victims.

The court would hear the lawsuit filed by Walhi and more than 8,200 residents of 12 villages in West Sumatra and Riau provinces representing protected elephants whose habitat was affected by the project.

The residents and Walhi sued the Japanese government, which they said should be held partly responsible for the project and its negative impact on locals and the environment.

The hydropower project with a capacity of 338 megawatts was constructed between 1990 and 1998 with financial grant from Japan worth Rp 2.1 trillion.

Hundreds of elephants also were pushed out of their habitat in the thousands of hectares of protected forest affected by the project. -- JP