Kabinet Pro Lingkungan [A Pro-Environment Cabinet]

Abstract

An opinion article by Khalisah Khalid, Head of the Department of Research and Resource Development of Walhi (the Indonesian Forum for the Environment), in the daily Kompas, urging the Jokowi-JK government to form a pro-environment cabinet. Starting from three statements by Jokowi-JK, namely that Indonesia is in a situation of ecological disaster, that economic growth has neglected sustainability, and that development will rest on human resources, the author sets out Walhi's Roadmap Towards Ecological Justice: policy and institutional reform, a strong environmental protection institution to implement Law Number 32 of 2009, and the merger of sectoral ministries such as Forestry, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), and Marine Affairs and Fisheries into a single Ministry for the Management of Natural Wealth under the coordination of the minister for environmental protection, with tenure matters placed in the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs. She refers to MPR Decree Number IX/2001 and Articles 28H and 33 of the 1945 Constitution, and calls for a cabinet bold enough to review Presidential Regulation Number 51 of 2014 on the reclamation of Benoa Bay, enforce environmental law, and deal with mining on small islands.