Djemi Amnifu, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is expected to raise a discussion on pollution in the Timor Sea during his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra, in November, this year.
"The agenda item is very important to support the [current] class-action lawsuit filed by more than 13,000 East Nusa Tenggara seaweed farmers at the Australian Federal Court," the province's National Research Council chairman Gregorius Neonbasu told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Gregorius, who is also a lecturer at Widya Mandira in Kupang, said the meeting was high time to discuss the topic amid the lawsuit against PTTEP Australasia.
He said the pollution, which was caused by an oil spill at the Montara oil rig on Aug. 21, 2009, had affected 90 percent of Indonesian waters in Timor Sea and destroyed seaweed cultivation in the area.
Similarly, Muchtasor of the Surabaya-based 10 November Institute of Technology also suggested that Jokowi discuss the topic with Turnbull, saying that the pollution was a crime against farmers.
"Besides the seaweed farmers, local fishermen also suffered significant income decreases," Muchtasor, who has conducted research on the social and economic impact of pollution in the Timor Sea, said. (jun)