Jakarta – Hundreds of flood victims demonstrated at the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Wednesday February 7. They were protesting a statement by the Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie, who said that reports on the floods in Jakarta are being exaggerated by the mass media.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi) plans to build a green political front as an alternative political force. The environmental political block will be based on popular and organised political forces.

Yuliawati, Jakarta – The People’s Representative Assembly’s Natural Disaster Relief Monitoring Team in Aceh and North Sumatra is asking the government to reconsider the presence of foreign volunteers so that they can remain in Indonesia longer.

Pekanbaru-RoL – The Minister of Forestry, H. MS Kaban, says that level of illegal logging in Indonesia is resulting in financial losses to the state amounting to 60 trillion rupiah per year

RR Ariyani, Jakarta – A grouping of non-government organisations (NGOs) who are handling the Buyat Bay pollution case including the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) and the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) hope that an integrated technical team will be able to act independently.

Dadan Kuswaraharja, Jakarta – Worker and environment activists demonstrated at the PT Newmont Mining Group Jakarta office following the exposure of pollution in the Gulf of Buyat which has cased Minamata sickness. They were demanding that Newmont take responsibility.