As Indonesia gears up for elections, activists brace for an environmental sell-off

JAKARTA — Environmental issues in Indonesia will once again be both bargaining chip and valuable stake this year as the country prepares to hold sweeping elections, according to an environmental outlook released last month by the country’s main environmental watchdog, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi). Voters in the world’s third-largest democracy will head to the polls in June to vote for 17 provincial governors, 115 district heads and 39 mayors. Up for grabs: control of natural resource-rich regions, including in Indonesian Borneo, Sumatra and Papua. Elections at the local level in Indonesia have long been marred by corruption: business lobbies bribe their favored candidates with the expectation of a quid pro quo once in office; incumbents engage in pork-barrel programs and blatant vote-buying schemes; and in each region, the promise to permit the plunder of natural resources — timber, coal, land, water — forms a central part of each candidate’s platform. “In this political year, there will be a great amount of money circulating,” says Even Sembiring, the policy assessment manager at Walhi. “So we have to remain alert.” An illegally logged tree in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Habitat loss played a critical role in reducing rhino populations, but most experts now believe the species’ low birth rate is a more pressing problem. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Decentralizing corruption A key aspect of Indonesia’s vibrant, if imperfect, democracy is the decentralization of power from Jakarta to the regions, introduced after the downfall in 1998 of the late dictator…

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