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!"