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Legal aid
activists and supporters showed on Friday their backing for under-fire
environmental group Greenpeace, which is being evicted from its office by the
Jakarta administration for alleged zoning violations.
“YLBHI [the
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation] and other NGOs have pledged to back up
Greenpeace and give our support to them,” said Alvon Kurnia Palma, deputy
chairman of YLBHI.
The Jakarta
Building Control and Monitoring Office (P2B) said it served notice to
Greenpeace on Wednesday about the closure and would proceed with sealing off
its headquarters on Jalan Kemang Utara in South Jakarta on Monday. It said the
office had been built in an area designated for residential buildings only.
The YLBHI
said the Jakarta administration’s move was just a small part of a more
widespread problem of discrimination against local NGOs.
Alvon cited
an incident on Wednesday, when the YLBHI’s headquarters was surrounded by
dozens of troops from the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) when it was holding a public
discussion on Freeport.
“Other NGOs
such as ICW [Indonesia Corruption Watch] also had to face scrutiny when it was
revealed they received funding from abroad,” Alvon said.
Alvon also
said the eviction letter P2B had been using was legally flawed.
“It did not
mention what bylaw the letter was issued on,” Alvon said. “The letter only
said, ‘based on a DKI bylaw.’ ”
Berry
Nahdian Furqan, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment
(Walhi), urged other activists to back up Greenpeace.
“Greenpeace
has been campaigning for our forests and environment. Don’t let environmental
criminals win,” Berry said, adding that Walhi and the YLBHI have agreed to
temporarily accommodate Greenpeace should the sealing off take place.
“We are
ready to back up Greenpeace politically and concretely,” he added.
Widyo
Dwiyono, head of the South Jakarta P2B office, said his agency had given
Greenpeace an extra 24 hours for the organization to relocate.
“According
to the notice, the relocation should actually take place on Sunday,” he said.
“This is
part of our regular law enforcement — all buildings in the area that violate
zoning regulations will face the same thing,” he added. Widyo could not detail
how many buildings his office planned to cite in the area.
Kemang is
also home to scores of restaurants, bars, nightclubs and shops, few of which
have ever been sealed off or cited for zoning violations.
The
eviction follows several months of uneasy relations between Greenpeace and
government officials.
Greenpeace’s
Southeast Asia media campaigner Hikmat Soeriatanuwijaya claimed the group had
been unfairly targeted after it launched a global campaign against Asia Pulp
and Paper.
Last month,
a Greenpeace UK forest campaigner was deported from Indonesia for reasons that
were never made clear. That incident took place less than a week after the
Greenpeace UK director was denied entry into the country despite arriving with
a valid entry visa.
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