Jakarta – The East Kalimantan (Kaltim) governor's office was pelted with rotten vegetables by protesters during a demonstration initiated by the People's Challenge Movement (Geram) Alliance on Wednesday November 4.
The action was a continuation of a demonstration on October 21 over cases of forest and land fires (karhutla), fuel shortages and electricity blackouts.
Action field general (Jenlap) Wira Saguna Abyasa Harahap said that the demands of yesterdays demonstration were still related to the previous action, although there were two additional demands. The protesters also believe that the provincial government had not provided concrete answers to their demands.
"Then there are two additional demands, namely providing compensation for people suffering from ISPA [Acute Respiratory Infections] due to karhutla, and also removing Sudarno from the [governor's] team of experts [on accelerating development] who today in the community was provoking the public", Harahap told reporters on Wednesday.
Harahap explained that the decision to return to the streets was triggered by the East Kalimantan provincial government (Kaltim Pemprov) which had failed to provided adequate answers and concrete actions following the October 21 action.
"The reason we took to the streets today was because the government or the Kaltim Pemprov did not provide concrete answers and the answers we wanted after we held the action on October 21", he said.
He said that communication with East Kalimantan provincial government public relations division has so far only produced promises whose realisation is unclear.
"The things that were provided were uncertain promises. And today we also did not hear or get the answers we wanted at all", he continued.
Harahap also questioned the absence of East Kalimantan Governor Rudy Mas'ud and Deputy Governor Seno Aji when the protesters arrived at the governor's office.
"At least the governor or deputy governor could have met us. If they weren't there at all it means they are afraid of us", asserted Harahap.
This demonstration was marked by the symbolic action of throwing rotten vegetables as an expression of disappointment over the electricity blackouts that still frequently occur in East Kalimantan.
One of the demonstrators, Muhammad Khadafi, said the symbolic action was an illustration of public unrest. Especially because Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have also been affected.
"This is a form of anxiety from the community, especially MSMEs. Like me, my livestock died because the lights went out", said Khadafi.
The student from Kutai Kartanegara (Kukar) Regency claimed that he had suffered losses due to power outages. He said the problem had been going on for months.
In his home area, according to Khadafi, power outages have occurred frequently in the last three months. This condition is considered detrimental to society because it disrupts daily and business activities.
"This has been going on for months. There have been repeated (outages)", he said.
Khadafi highlighted that East Kalimantan is a coal producing area, but the people still experienced power outages. According to him, this condition is ironic in the midst of natural resource extraction activities taking place in East Kalimantan.
"Hopefully the provincial government can resolve this again. How come so many mine holes have been dug, but the lights are still out?", concluded Khadafi. (wis/wis)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Demo Karhutla, Massa Lempari Kantor Gubernur Kaltim dengan Sayur Busuk".]
