Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Green activists unveiled Monday an ambitious plan to set up a political bloc which will pressure the government and lawmakers to take action against the country's ailing environment.
The Indonesia Environment Forum (Walhi) said the bloc would comprise people from the grassroots level, who would be trained to think critically about environmental affairs.
"We will build critical grassroots communities. We will organize them as a people's power to campaign for the environment and the prosperity of the general public," Walhi executive director Chalid Muhammad told reporters. He said Walhi would not turn into a political party by supporting certain parties or candidates.
Of about 70 registered political parties in the country, only the National Awakening Party (PKB), founded by Muslim clerics, has officially declared commitment to green campaigns. In Indonesian politics, however, green is the color representative of Islam.
Walhi said to meet the target of the green bloc, it would conduct a series of grassroots educational campaigns on environment issues, both in villages and urban areas. "We will also link our campaigns with those of international green activists," he said.
Walhi is part of the Friends of the Earth international environmental group.
Chalid said the plan to set up the green bloc would be discussed in the Walhi summit in Yogyakarta, which starts Wednesday. The summit, to be held in five villages in Yogyakarta's Bantul regency, will attract 5,000 activists, including representatives of Southeast Asian countries.
Walhi has long expressed concerns about recurring ecological disasters, such as floods, landslides, droughts, harvest failures and forest fires. They blamed the government for not making breakthroughs to stop the disasters.
The group recorded about 840 ecological disasters between 2006 and 2007, leaving over 7,303 people dead and destroying about 750,000 houses across the archipelago.
Chalid predicts massive exploitation of natural resources will continue in coming years as many existing government policies are pro-business. He said 90 percent of oil and gas fields were controlled by transnational corporations, of which 60 percent of the products were exported.
Walhi campaigner for fishermen and small island affairs Reza Damanik said the critical mass groups would be powerful in pushing for more eco-friendly regulations.
"With this knowledge, people can be more critical, especially when electing their local leaders," he said, adding independent candidates were not necessarily more aware of the environment than established elite groups.