Jakarta – Natural disasters have hit several parts of Indonesia at the start of 2021. The series of distressing calamities began on Saturday January 9 when landslide claimed 32 lives in Sumedang, West Java.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) is urging President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to summon companies which have business permits covering forest areas and land in South Kalimantan.

Feybien Ramayanti, Jakarta – Greenpeace Indonesia suspects that the flash floods which have inundated South Kalimantan are because watershed areas lost around 304,225 hectares of forest cover between 2001 and 2019. Most of this has been converted into palm oil plantations.

Jakarta – Enlightened Indonesia Foundation Executive Director Adhityani Putri says that the government should be more aggressive in realising its commitments to addressing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Jakarta – Environmental organisation Greenpeace says that corporations in the palm oil sector have begun to venture into forests in Papua in concert with diminishing land availability in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Jakarta – The head of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation’s (LBH) advocacy for democracy team, Aprilia Lisa, says that the public’s voices and wishes were ignored by the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) in the process of deliberating the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation, which the DPR passed into law yesterday.

Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) officially passed the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation into law during a plenary meeting on Monday October 5. The House accelerated the scheduled ratification – which had been planned for October 8 – on the grounds that the number of Covid-19 cases is continuing to rise.

Zakarias Demon Daton, Samarinda – Health officials in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, tried to force three activists to undergo isolation at a local hospital after claiming that they had tested positive for Covid-19.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has rejected an invitation to attend a public hearing with the House of Representative’s (DPR) Legislative Body (Baleg) to discuss the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation on Wednesday June 10.

A recent case in Gowa, South Sulawesi, has highlighted numerous instances of illegal logging uncovered since COVID-19 began to spread across the country. The Environment and Forestry Ministry investigated at least five other similar cases in April alone and many more over the last three months.

Jakarta – The Banyuwangi municipal police say that a clash in the Pesanggaran sub-district of Banyuwangi, East Java, in late March was trigged by a protest by a group of people opposing a mine operated by the company PT Bumi Suksesindo (BSI) on the pretext of preventing the spread of the corona virus.

Ahmad Bil Wahid, Jakarta – Scores of students held a protest action in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building Wednesday opposing the Omnibus Law on Job Creation which is still being deliberated by the parliament.

Jakarta – Several non-government organisations (NGOs) have rejected an invitation to hold a joint meeting at the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) to discuss the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation.

Jakarta – The Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) office in the East Java capital of Surabaya was besieged by scores of people wearing black safari suits from the mass organisation (ormas) Pancasila Youth (PP) and other affiliated groups.

From an oped piece titled Annual floods.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) says that there are some 94 open pits on former mining sites which have yet to be restored or rehabilitated in East Kalimantan – the area earmarked for the construction of the country’s new capital city.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – According to a report by the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), regions which have a large number of mining concessions were hit by some of the worst flooding in 2019.

Jakarta – Scores of students from the University and High-School Student Action Alliance (Ampera) arrived at the Arjuna Wiwaha Monument or Horse Statue in Central Jakarta on the afternoon of October 28 to hold a protest action.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says that the state has set a bad example which has encouraged companies to set fire to forests and land.

Andhika Prasetia, Pekanbaru -- A state of emergency has been declared in Riau province due to the haze from forest and land fires (karhutla). Hoping for rain to get rid of the haze, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has held a salat istisqa -- a prayer for rain from Allah during drought.