Walhi's 25th year: From a "nice child" to youth filled with angst
Walhi's 25th year: From a "nice child" to youth filled with angst
Evi Mariani
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
On Oct. 15, 1980, when a group of environmentally concerned
organizations formed the Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi),
there was no such thing as "environmental crime"; the government
passed the country's first environmental law only in 1982.
Now, 25 years later, the environmental group has become the
country's largest non-governmental organization in the field of
environmental legal advocacy.
So far, Walhi currently has 26 provincial offices, and has
filed 22 environmental lawsuits, most of which it has lost.
Walhi's milestone was their first lawsuit in 1989 against pulp
and rayon company PT Indorayon Utama, for the pollution of Porsea
in North Sumatra.
For the first time in the history of the Indonesian judicial
system, an NGO, not direct victims, was able to represent public
interests in a court of law.
Unsurprisingly, they lost the case. However, it served to
change Walhi's image from a government partner, which in the
first years merely aimed to raise public awareness on
environmental issues, to a pressure group, whose advice was often
heeded.
Emmy Hafild, a seasoned environmentalist and Walhi's executive
director from 1996 to 2001, said to writer Otto Adi Yulianto in a
2003 book, Indonesia's Post-Soeharto Democracy Movement, that
during its first years, Walhi was considered a 'nice child' in
the eyes of the government.
During the onset, Walhi indeed had a warm relationship with
the government, of which Walhi formed a partnership to raise
public awareness on the importance of environmental conservation.
However, since 1989 Walhi gradually changed its image to
become an advocacy NGO, which got them put on the blacklist by
the New Order regime.
In 1994, Walhi reconfirmed its mission as an advocacy NGO.
Along with five other NGOs, Walhi sued president Soeharto for
issuing a decree that diverted money from the reforestation
budget to provide a loan for aircraft manufacturer IPTN.
It was not only the government that was nervous about Walhi,
but businesspeople also felt the sting of their criticisms.
"Congratulations to Walhi. I hope in the future we can
communicate better, not in an emotional way as we often do now,"
Jeffrey Mulyono, the chairman of Indonesian Mining Association
(IMA) told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview.
Mulyono said that often times, the people involved in the
mining industry become embroiled in acrimonious, unhealthy
debates with Walhi.
"I hope both Walhi and the mining community can communicate
better, without necessarily changing their perspective," he
added.
He said that many mining companies had put forth some solid
environmental efforts. "But Walhi tends to point only at the bad
things," he said.
Jeffrey later asked a journalist to check with Walhi on
whether it was OK for IMA to send Walhi some flowers to
congratulate them. Walhi replied, "Just send us greetings. Please
don't send us things."
Besides continuously expressing their staunch criticism of the
mining industry, Walhi once sued PT Freeport McMoran and just
recently attacked PT Newmont Minahasa Raya for the mining
company's allegedly reckless tailings program.
As a self-appointed democracy vehicle in the 1990s, Walhi
moved further from environmental issues, organizing voter
education and promoting voting as a right not an obligation.
In the first election after 1998's reformasi, Walhi also
conducted voter education, this time encouraging people to vote
for political parties with pro-environmental programs.
After reformasi, Walhi also actively participates in campaigns
against neo-liberalism, becoming one of the leaders of the anti-
debt movement.
Recently, it has also been busy protesting the increased fuel
prices, while condemning the government for "making the life of
poor people more difficult".
During the celebration of Walhi's 25th anniversary last
Saturday, Walhi's current executive director, Chalid Muhammad
opened his speech with criticism over the fuel hike decision,
instead of a statement concerning the environment.
In recent years, Walhi has shown an intention to have another
major change after 1989. In 2004, they officially set up the
Friends of Walhi (Sahabat Walhi or Sawa), which aims to reach out
to a wider public audience.
Through an environment expo and the Internet, Walhi has opened
the door for people from all walks of life to do their bit to
help save the environment.
"Sawa allows everybody to help the environment with their own
way and potential," Walhi's head of fund raising department, Rini
Nasution, said.
It seems that Walhi has also learned some lessons from their
90 percent loss rate in the courts, that they need wider public
support to pressure the government into seriously tackling the
mounting environmental problems that proliferate at a pace Walhi
cannot even keep up with.
Now, besides screaming their usual bitter, sometimes
supercilious, slogans, Walhi has also conjured up a more amiable
and populist slogan: "Save the Earth with Your Hands!"