Though we haven’t heard much lately around these waters out of ForBALI, the organization behind the Tolak Reklamasi campaign, apparently Americans have.
Last week, American and Indonesian protesters reportedly joined forces and demonstrated in the capital, Washington D.C., to voice their dissent of the reclamation in Bali’s Benoa Bay that protestors say would have detrimental consequences on the environment.
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“A handful of people will make big profits from the reclamation, while the people will bear the consequences of the environmental damage,” said Ika Inggas, a protester in Washington, as quoted by the environmental site Mongabay. “It’s very unjust.”
She also added, “It’s not only the people of Bali who reject the reclamation. This is international.”
Another protestor in DC, Made Supriatma, told Mongabay that Indonesian President Jokowi should revoke the presidential decree from his presidential predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that took Benoa Bay and its some 700 hectares off the protected land list. This presidential decree helped permit mass developer Tirta Wahana Bali International to move forward with the controversial reclamation project.
If realized, the project would make a network of island for luxury residences and hotels, a theme park, and a Formula One racetrack.
The project has tried to get permission to dredge sea sand from East Java and then West Nusa Tenggara, but was shot down on both accounts for similar ecological concerns, according to Mongabay.
Here are some snapshots of the DC demonstration from Twitter:
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