Desi Anwar: Cilamaya and Other Great Ideas
There seems to be an interesting pattern to the decision-making process carried out by President Joko Widodo's administration. First, come up with an idea, then you make it into policy and try to get it implemented, and when — surprise, surprise — the whole idea is rejected by various stakeholders, then you simply take it back and move on to another brilliant idea.
Forcing foreigners to be able to speak Bahasa Indonesia before they can set up businesses here or spending lots of money on expensive cars for lawmakers and other top state officials were not exactly well thought through policy plans. But surely that is not the case across the board?
A recent initiative that comes to mind is the plan to build the Cilamaya deep-sea port on the coast of West Java, in Karawang. This was actually a good idea, as better infrastructure is one of the things Indonesia desperately needs and as such it features high on the president's agenda.
Exporters, particularly automotive manufacturers, have long complained about the existing port of Tanjung Priok, in the north of Jakarta, which is deemed no longer efficient or sufficient, not to mention a pain to get to due to the capital's impossible traffic jams.
Cilamaya, on the northern coast of West Java, was seen as ideal. It is easily accessible and the waters there are deep enough. The Transportation Ministry was understandably excited to push through the project, especially since the financing would be entirely private, mainly taken care of by interested parties eager for an alternative port for their products, such as Japanese car manufacturers.
Moreover, sophisticated foreign consultants paid to do a study on the viability of the project had given it a thumbs up. Thus, the policy was mandated for immediate implementation.
What could possibly go wrong? If anything, the port should have been built yesterday, as more than ever this country needs to boost its exports.
Problems, however, did come to surface when I facilitated a discussion with those who would be directly impacted by the project.
To start off, the coastal area intended for the deep-sea port is already home to an off-shore rig owned by state energy firm Pertamina. They were obviously spooked at the idea of large vessels going back and forth and endangering their facilities. Especially since they felt they were not consulted about the plan from the beginning, but informed only after the fact. To Pertamina, the Cilamaya port was not only a bad idea, but a threat to an existing national asset.
The local office of state utility firm Perusahaan Listrik Negera (PLN) was also not amused. The area gets its power from gas piped from the Pertamina rig, and any potential disturbance to the pipes from busy sea traffic would be disastrous. The PLN people, too, were surprised that they were not consulted about such a major project.
The local community was equally upset about the project.
I asked Asep, a concerned resident of Cilamaya, if he was excited about the new economic activities in his area. Surely there would be more jobs and higher incomes?
But Asep was sceptical.
The local fishermen were not happy, he said, at the idea of fishing in waters crisscrossed by heavy vessels, in their little boats. If anything, they would be deprived of their livelihoods. Besides, a new port would only create jobs for skilled outsiders, who would likely come and invade the area, changing for good the local community's traditional way of life.
And there was more: this part of West Java is known as the area's rice bowl. Who knows how the presence of an international deep-sea port would impact national rice production?
What really disturbed Asep, however, as someone born and bred in Karawang, was the lack of respect and consideration for an area that has such historical significance. More than 400 locals living in what was then called Rawagede, between Karawang and Bekasi, were murdered by Dutch soldiers back in 1947.
When would Cilamaya finally be left alone, Asep wondered.
I asked a chap from the Transportation Ministry what he thought of all this negative feedback. I imagined a prolonged delay before the project could be implemented and more formal meetings at the highest levels to address all concerns and find a win-win solution.
However, a few days after the said discussion, I heard that the vice president had already scrapped the project altogether and was looking for a different location. So that was that.
Desi Anwar is a senior anchor at Metro TV. She can be reached at desianwar.com or dailyavocado.net.
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