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Jakarta Post, 20 May: In February 2007 the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei signed the Heart of Borneo Declaration — an agreement to protect 22 million hectares at the center of the island from environmental degradation. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which initiated the declaration, the Heart of Borneo (HoB) area is … Continue reading
Sydney Morning Herald, 13 April: Coal projects in Indonesia risk damage to one of the world’s great natural treasure troves. Australian companies are pushing ahead with plans to construct open-cut coalmines in a conservation area of Borneo described by the World Wildlife Fund as “one of the planet’s richest treasure troves”. Brisbane-based Cokal announced it … Continue reading
Jakarta Post, 26 February. Ruth Ogetay wanted to be a nurse, but an experience with domestic violence set her life on a new course. Ruth Ogetay found her calling in Jakarta. The 27-year-old from Paniai, Papua, had dreamed since childhood of becoming a nurse, and after finishing high school left home to study in Java. Although … Continue reading
Jakarta Post, 19 February. A journey to quit cigarettes in a tobacco-clinging city. “If you have good motivation to stop smoking, use it,” says smoking cessation expert Tribowo Ginting. “Don’t avoid it, don’t neglect it. Just follow your heart and do it. Everybody can stop.” According to the psychiatrist, 30 percent of people who try to … Continue reading
There was little improvement in Indonesia’s human rights situation last year, with women and religious minorities in the archipelago facing increasing violence and discrimination and more than 100 citizens imprisoned for political reasons, according to the international NGO Human Rights Watch, which launched its 2013 World Report in Jakarta yesterday. The organization called on President … Continue reading
Mongabay blog, 18 December: Its natural beauty and colorful Hindu culture have drawn visitors to Bali since the 1930s. But more than three decades of rampant development since mass tourism took hold have left the island and its people in a critical state. Bali is struggling with a severe water shortage, huge volumes of waste, a … Continue reading
Crikey, 10 December: There is a sober lesson in the Bakun dam saga for other communities along Sarawak’s rivers and elsewhere in south-east Asia, writes freelance journalist Jenny Denton. In the hinterland of Borneo an old lady is perched on a couch improvising into a microphone. A chorus of about 50 people, cross-legged on the … Continue reading
Crikey, 19 November: In Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, hundreds of tribal people are blockading big dam projects that threaten their land. Freelance writer Jenny Denton says Australian businesses with links to government are among the international companies helping to build them. “Good fishing!” Johannes yells from the front of the longboat, where he’s sitting cross-legged … Continue reading
Mongabay.com, 5 November: Hundreds of tribal people in Sarawak have started blockading a second big hydroelectric dam project being built by a government which critics accuse of nepotism and corruption. Late last month around 200 native Kenyah, Kayan and Penan people chased away workers and set up a blockade on a road leading to the … Continue reading
Sydney Morning Herald, 24 October: Research to be released Thursday into one of the most violent episodes in the history of West Papua claims that helicopters provided to Indonesia by the Australian government were used in military operations in the 1970s that amounted to genocide. According to a report by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human … Continue reading
Jenny Denton 