Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Hundreds of people and activists staged a rally to mark the fourth year since the Sidoarjo mudflow submerged thousands of houses in Sidoarjo, East Java.
Meanwhile, hundreds of others commemorated in Porong, Sidoarjo, by staging a concert, shadow puppet play and traditional East Javanese ludruk theater performances.
In Jakarta, activists staged a play in which two men smeared with mud bemoaned their fate as all their belongings were lost to the mudflow.
The play also featured two men wearing the masks of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In the play, the two men gave the impression that they ignored the plight of the victims.
"It symbolizes the lack of action by the government in dealing with the mudflow case, leaving the victims in limbo," Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) coordinator Andri S. Wijaya said.
He said the government had not taken any concrete steps to uphold justice in the case in the past four years. "The most pressing concern is the government's lack of attention to the fate of school-aged children and women," he said.
The protesters rallying in front of the presidential office included activists from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Institute Hijau Indonesia, Women's Solidarity and People's Coalition for Justice in Fisheries (Kiara).
Activists from Jatam in East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Yogyakarta and Sidoarjo also held separate rallies to mark the anniversary.
Dozens of Jatam activists in East Kalimantan threw mud at the offices of PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) as a sign of protest. The Bakrie & Brothers own a 7 percent stake in KPC's parent unit, PT Bumi Resources.
In Sidoarjo, an event was held for hundreds of victims from nine villages including Kedungbendo, Siring, Jatirejo, Renokenongo, Gempolsari and Besuki and organized by art community Taring Padi and NGO Lafadl Initiative.
Event organizers said they aimed at sending message to the public not to forget the disaster and that in the past four years the government was oblivious to gross human rights violations resulting from the disaster.
Community Legal Aid chairman Taufik Basari criticized the authorities for not enforcing the law since the mudflow disaster occurred. "The poor law enforcement only created uncertainty for the future of the victims. It is not clear when they will be compensated, how much and in what way," he said.
The government allocated Rp 5.3 billion (US$572,000) for the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency in 2007 and an additional Rp 500 billion in 2008. The government spent Rp 1.1 trillion on the Lapindo case in 2008 and an additional Rp 1.14 trillion in 2009.