Irsyan Hasyim (Contributor), Jakarta – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) delivered his final state address at the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia on Friday, August 16, 2024.
In this address, Jokowi claimed that his administration had achieved several significant successes over the past decade, including equitable and Indonesia-centric development, economic growth, climate resilience, green economy initiatives, and a just energy transition.
Jokowi also highlighted the government's success in drafting strategic policies such as the Job Creation Law, the IKN Law, the DKJ Law, and the ITE Law.
However, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) criticized these claims, arguing that the reality contradicts Jokowi's assertions. Walhi described development under Jokowi as having a colonial character.
Fanny Tri Jambore, Head of Walhi's Campaign Division, pointed out that the so-called equitable and Indonesia-centric development has instead led to environmental destruction and human rights violations, particularly through National Strategic Projects (PSN).
"Strategic policies touted as the foundation for government transition, such as the Job Creation Law and the IKN Law, have actually resulted in land appropriation and a burden on the state budget. Meanwhile, the ITE Law has become a tool for suppressing freedom of expression and opinion," Fanny told Tempo on Friday, August 16, 2024.
Walhi provided critical notes on several key aspects of President Jokowi's state address. According to Fanny, the claimed equitable and Indonesia-centric development has not truly occurred. National development under Jokowi's administration is centralized (Jakarta-centric) in its decision-making process (top-down approach).
"Through hundreds of PSNs, the government has driven environmental damage, triggered widespread agrarian conflicts in various regions, including the Rempang Eco-City project in the Riau Islands, nickel mining and industrial zones in Halmahera, North Maluku, the Food Estate project in Central Kalimantan, and the Labuan Bajo National Tourism Strategic Area (KSPN) in Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara," she said.
Fanny also noted that the development of villages, remote, and outermost regions, in practice, involves land appropriation for PSNs and the Land Bank, as well as the expansion of extractive industries such as mining and plantations from Sumatra to Papua.
She argued that infrastructure development under the guise of equitable distribution benefits only a small group of elites and large corporations, not ordinary citizens.
The Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) recorded 115 agrarian conflicts caused by PSNs from 2020 to 2023. "Some PSNs, like the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail project (KCJB) and the IKN, have only added to the national debt and drained the state budget," she revealed.
Fanny also criticized the national economic growth rate, which averaged 5 percent, with Papua and Maluku at 6 percent and North Maluku at 20 percent. She argued that this economic growth does not benefit ordinary people and comes at the cost of massive environmental destruction and human rights violations.
Indonesia's economic growth over the past decade has failed to address the economic inequality between the wealthiest 1 percent and the remaining 99 percent of the population.
The World Inequality Database reports that the wealth of the richest has multiplied, while other groups have stagnated. In recent years, Fanny added, the lower-middle class has become increasingly vulnerable to poverty due to rising prices of basic necessities, which have reduced purchasing power. "Meanwhile, the government is pushing for increased state revenue through a hike in Value Added Tax (VAT)."
Indonesia's economic situation is also overshadowed by a growing debt, which reached IDR 8,338 trillion as of April 2024, with IDR 800 trillion maturing in 2025. The economic growth in Papua, Maluku, and North Maluku, which has 'skyrocketed,' has come at the expense of natural resource exploitation and the safety of the people.
In North Maluku, specifically, Walhi North Maluku recorded 26,100 hectares of deforestation over the past decade due to mining activities.
Fanny concluded by highlighting that environmental pollution, the destruction of people's livelihoods, and large-scale ecological disasters have been borne by local residents. "The economic benefits of these extractive industries are enjoyed by a few, while the economic, social, and environmental losses are shouldered by the people."
Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1904853/jokowi-claims-successes-in-final-state-address-walhi-disagree