JP ODA project sued by Indonesia's rare animals

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030704a5.htm

 

Sumatra islander tells court how aid project destroyed

lives

 

By YUMI WIJERS-HASEGAWA

Staff writer

 

A representative of residents of Indonesia's Sumatra

Island who were forced off their property by the

construction of a dam funded by Japanese aid told a

Tokyo court Thursday how the project has devastated

their lives.

 

" Before we were forced out, the lives of the villagers

were simple but satisfactory, " Iswadi Abdullah Salim,

30, told the Tokyo District Court. " We had nice

houses, vast fertile farmland, clean rivers and rubber

plantations, where we could work and gain income for

children's education and other necessities.

 

" But now we live in a sort of refugee camp, with

barren land and a well without water, " said Iswadi,

one of the residents who were forced from their

village in July 1993.

 

He made the statement at the opening session of a

lawsuit filed by 8,400 Sumatra residents.

 

The Koto Panjang Dam was completed in 1996 at a cost

of 31.18 billion yen and paid for with yen-denominated

loans from Japan.

 

The opening of the court session was delayed by about

45 minutes, when several Japanese supporters of the

plaintiffs resisted an order by presiding Judge

Takashi Saito to leave the courtroom.

 

The judge said the T-shirts they were wearing, with

printed messages saying " no more ODA " in English and

" Let's unite and resist oppression " in Indonesian,

amounted to an act of demonstration, which is banned

in courtrooms. For a while, there was confusion as

bailiffs and the supporters jostled and quarreled.

 

The suit targets the legitimacy of the aid project,

and the plaintiffs are demanding that their homeland

be restored to its original state. Each is also

seeking 5 million yen in compensation from the

Japanese government, the Japan International

Cooperation Agency, the Japan Bank for International

Cooperation and Tokyo Electric Power Services Co.

 

The plaintiffs are among 23,000 islanders who were

resettled to make way for the hydroelectric dam. Some

of the 23,000 have received monetary compensation from

the Indonesian government.

 

The plaintiffs argue that they were resettled to

barren areas where they could not support themselves

or carry on their traditional way of life.

 

In a written statement to the court, the Japanese

government denied any responsibility for the plight of

the residents. It said it had been told by Jakarta

that the residents were resettled with their consent

and that it is the Indonesian government's

responsibility to ensure the smooth relocation of

those affected.

 

The suit was originally filed by 3,900 people.

 

Rare animals from the dam-affected area, such as

Sumatra elephants, Sumatra tigers and Malay tapirs,

have also been named among the plaintiffs by the

Indonesian environmental protection group WALHI, which

is demanding 5 million yen as compensation for the

native animals.

 

During a later news conference, Kazuo Sumi, chairman

of the support group and a professor of law at Niigata

University, said the case questions the fundamental

meaning of official development aid. He added that

only corrupt politicians, including people linked to

former Indonesian President Suharto, benefited from

the dam's construction.

 

He also said the Japanese government is dealing with

this case in an irresponsible manner, noting it

overlooked mounting opposition from the residents in

the dam-affected area.

 

" I want the Japanese people to know, " Iswadi told the

news conference, " that their tax money is used to make

people like us suffer in many countries. "

 

The Japan Times: July 4, 2003

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