President Joko Widodo's Final State Address: 10 Years of Leadership Without a Climate Justice Policy, It's Time for the New Administration to Demonstrate a Real Commitment Through a Climate Justice Law
Jakarta, August 18, 2024 – President Joko Widodo's State Address, delivered at the House of Representatives (DPR) and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) session on August 16, 2024, was a significant moment, not only as the final state address of his term, but also as a reflection of his 10-year administration, which will be remembered in Indonesian history. At this moment, the People's Alliance for Climate Justice (ARUKI) demands that the next administration demonstrate a serious commitment to realizing climate justice. This is because, until the end of President Jokowi's term, climate change mitigation actions have not been a top priority, and are far from a Climate Justice perspective.
President Joko Widodo should use this state address to not only affirm Indonesia's commitment to addressing the climate crisis, but also demonstrate concrete steps taken to reduce dependence on extractive industries. Indonesia must begin shifting to a more sustainable and equitable development model, one that prioritizes not only economic growth but also environmental preservation, upholds human rights, and improves the well-being of its people, particularly vulnerable individuals.
Unfortunately, in his state address, President Jokowi only mentioned the green economy but failed to mention the climate crisis as a crucial and urgent issue on Indonesia's future development agenda. Furthermore, President Jokowi explicitly mentioned his achievements in economic development, infrastructure, and the development of the social security system. However, President Jokowi did not convey a single success story in addressing the climate crisis. President Jokowi failed to explain the success of the Indonesian government's commitment to reducing GHG emissions by 31.89 percent through its own efforts and 43.20 percent with international assistance (1).
Despite macroeconomic progress, over the past decade, economic policies focused on extractive industries have demonstrated the government's indifference to the worsening climate crisis. The impacts are felt most acutely by vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers, traditional fishers, Indigenous Peoples, women, young people, laborers, informal workers, people with disabilities, children, and the elderly, who are on the front lines of climate change. They bear the brunt of extreme weather, crop failures, damage to terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and the negative impacts of maladaptive projects, misguided mitigation actions, and various negative impacts of inequitable and inclusive development, threatening the survival of vulnerable groups in particular.
ARUKI noted that during President Jokowi's 10 years of leadership, the climate policies and actions implemented not only failed to address the root causes of the climate crisis, but instead increasingly threatened the safety of the people, damaged the environment, and violated human rights.
10 Years of Joko Widodo's Administration: Development Projects That Destroy the People's Adaptability . Under Joko Widodo's leadership, various large-scale development projects continue to be pushed forward, without considering their impact on the environment and the people's adaptability. Instead, they are legitimized through Law 2/2023 on Job Creation, which expands the scale of exploitation of biosphere areas, nature reserves, and forests, without considering the environmental impact.
Various projects in the name of climate change are actually just fake solutions, including:
1. Energy transition projects. The Jokowi government's touted energy transition scheme is undemocratic and unjust. Projects purportedly promoting climate action have in fact become business as usual (BAU), emphasizing large-scale investment and tending to exacerbate the problems and vulnerabilities faced by the people due to climate change, while making it increasingly difficult for them to adapt. Geothermal projects, CCUS, hydroelectric power plants, electric vehicles, and various other energy transition projects have actually exacerbated environmental damage, destroyed forests, and caused losses to the people. A study by Walhi & Celios (2023) shows that geothermal expansion and exploration on NTT Island has resulted in economic losses of 1.1 trillion rupiah per year for residents. This does not include the environmental losses and conflicts that the people must bear in the long term. Instead of climate action, the government is also using it to aggressively grant nickel mining and smelter permits to corporations. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources noted that by 2023, nickel mining permits had been issued to 213 corporate entities and at least 693,246.72 hectares of forest land cover in Indonesia had been granted to nickel mining corporations. This scheme has contributed to the release of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, causing human rights violations and significant environmental damage. Smallholder farmers, traditional fishers, women, and indigenous communities surrounding nickel mining and smelting areas in Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua are direct victims of the dispossession of living space and environmental destruction.
2. The JETP (Just Energy Transition Partnership) energy transition project is dominated by foreign debt, which has the potential to add a new burden to the state's finances and further burden citizens as taxpayers. Furthermore, the JETP energy transition project prioritizes large-scale renewable energy development, which is vulnerable to human rights violations. The JETP funding scheme neglects community-based renewable energy development, which brings renewable energy sources closer to the community and makes them more affordable.
3. Granting coal mining concessions to religious organizations (Nahdlatul Ulama/NU and Muhammadiyah). Granting coal mining concessions to these religious organizations is not only an attempt to whitewash the coal industry's ecological sins but also weakens the environmental movement in Indonesia. Any environmental movement that advocates for the importance of addressing the climate crisis will face opposition from NU and Muhammadiyah. Both religious organizations, which have entered the dirty coal energy business, will almost certainly obstruct any community movement urging the government to strengthen its climate commitments. Horizontal conflict between the environmental movement and these two Islamic organizations is becoming difficult to avoid.
4. The Food Estate project, which failed to achieve its objectives and instead had disastrous impacts. The program, which cost the state budget more than 104 trillion rupiah and was built in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua, and East Nusa Tenggara, has failed and caused ecological and economic damage, as well as social inequality. In Gunung Mas, Central Kalimantan, the Food Estate project has cleared 165,000 hectares of protected forest, including 600 hectares of rainforest. As a result, communities in the area face the threat of flooding due to deforestation.
5. Shrimp Estate Project. The development of large-scale shrimp farming projects undertaken during the Joko Widodo era in Central Java, Central Kalimantan, and West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) has in fact excluded vulnerable individuals, particularly traditional shrimp farmers and female shrimp farmers. The Shrimp Estate Project, designed to ensure Indonesia's shrimp supply for export to countries like the United States and Japan, threatens the existence of traditional shrimp farmers, while ignoring environmental degradation and the degradation of coastal ecosystems like mangroves. Violations of the rights of female shrimp farmers during the post-harvest period are also common (Infid, 2022). The project also fails to address the potential impacts of climate change on the coastal and marine sectors. Furthermore, the results of the Coastal Climate Consultation (Indonesian Traditional Fishermen's Union & Pikul Foundation, 2023) show that inappropriate climate policies actually increase vulnerability and destroy the adaptive capacity of traditional fishermen in the face of the climate crisis.
6. Carbon trading schemes are business-oriented and fail to address the root causes of the climate crisis. These schemes are seen as an attempt to absolve corporations of responsibility for environmental damage and contributing to GHG emissions.
During President Jokowi's 10-year administration, instead of emphasizing climate justice principles in developing climate policies and actions in Indonesia, climate-related regulations have instead encouraged businesses that exploit the crisis rather than meaningfully reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing public resilience. This situation is exacerbated by the large amount of discretionary power that has weakened democracy and diminished public oversight of the government over policies that harm the people and the environment.
It's Time for Indonesia to Have a Climate Justice Law.
Until the end of President Jokowi's leadership, there are no laws and regulations that guarantee justice and the safety of the people from the climate crisis. Yet the threat and impacts of the climate crisis are unavoidable. Vulnerable subjects must bear the brunt of the impact when the state fails to respond holistically to the climate crisis, even worsening the adaptive capacity of vulnerable subjects by choosing an extractive development model that damages the environment and violates human rights. Based on the voices and aspirations of vulnerable subjects in the public consultation process held by ARUKI, which has been carried out in eight different provinces in Indonesia3, the impacts of development injustice and climate injustice experienced and felt by the people undoubtedly urgently require a more comprehensive and equitable response.
To that end, ARUKI (People's Alliance for Climate Justice) urges the new government to:
Proactively evaluate and correct all policies and regulations that conflict with the spirit of realizing Climate Justice, such as the Minerba Law and the Job Creation Law.
Conduct a comprehensive revision of the JETP Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP) document, which places the financing of the energy transition in Indonesia as dominated by foreign debt and ignores the development of community-based renewable energy.
Cancel or revoke all coal mining concessions that have been offered to religious organizations, and stop issuing mining permits in the name of addressing the climate crisis.
The new government and House of Representatives (DPR) must immediately deliberate on the Climate Justice Bill. Indonesia needs a higher-level regulation that can encompass all sectors, transcending sectoral and bureaucratic silos. Seizing this momentum is crucial, given the increasingly widespread impacts of the climate crisis and the resulting loss of life for the Indonesian people, especially those who depend heavily on the environment's carrying capacity. Climate justice is no longer an option, but an urgent necessity to protect the future of the earth and the Indonesian people.
About ARUKI
ARUKI is an alliance of 34 civil society organizations formed on November 20, 2023, these civil society organizations include: National Executive Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), Kemitraan, Foundation for Strengthening Local Community Learning Circles (PIKUL), Madani Berkelanjutan, Foundation for Strengthening Participation, Initiatives, and Partnerships of Indonesian Society (YAPPIKA), Pusaka Foundation, Aksi! For Gender Social Ecological Justice, People's Coalition for Food Sovereignty, Women's Solidarity, TUK Indonesia, Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Koaksi Indonesia, 350.org Indonesia, ELS FH Univ. Indonesia, Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), Indonesian Traditional Fishermen's Union (KNTI), Healthy Soul Association (PJS), Indonesian Women with Disabilities Association, Climate Ranger (CR) Jakarta, XR Indonesia, Climate Koprol, DPP Kasbi, PSHK, Trend Asia, Walhi Jakarta, Celios, Huma Association.
ARUKI was formed to promote the realization of the Climate Justice Law, which is believed to be the highest legal instrument that can encourage collaboration and harmonization in addressing the climate crisis. ARUKI's vision is to encourage changes in the state system to realize climate justice in Indonesia that prioritizes the principles of justice, democracy, and sustainability. Its mission is: (1) Building people's power in promoting climate justice (2) Encouraging changes in the state's democratic system in realizing climate justice (3) Expanding the climate justice movement at the local, national, regional, and global levels.
ARUKI is divided into working groups including: (1) Substance and Academic Paper Working Group: compiling a knowledge narrative on climate justice and developing a position paper into an academic paper for the Climate Justice Bill. (2) People's Organizing Working Group: building awareness among affected communities and encouraging people's involvement in realizing climate justice. (3) Advocacy and Strategic Communication Working Group: connecting advocacy at the grassroots level with decision-making at the regional and national levels.
ARUKI is a testament to the commitment of various civil society organizations to fight for climate justice in Indonesia, and is expected to be a key driver in realizing sustainable systemic change.
Contact person:
Omen Bagaskara ( omenbagaskara@pikul.id /085-314-451-953)
Bibliography
1. https://kanalkomunikasi.pskl.menlhk.go.id/tag/cop-28-dubai/
2. https://www.walhi.or.id/uploads/blogs/Foto%20Rilis/tolak_investasi_nikel.pdf
3. Climate-Affected People's Consultation has been conducted in South Sumatra, East Kalimantan, Bali, Central Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and Papua.
Photo: Screenshot from the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube account with the title LIVE: Speech by the President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Annual Session of the MPR and Joint Session of the DPR and DPD, August 16, 2024
