Penulis Adi Fauzanto – Awardee DES Batch 3 Ikatan Mahasiswa Muhammadiyah
PWMU.CO – We, as Indonesians, are experiencing an era of environmental degradation; ironically, it is systematised by the Indonesian government, specifically during the Jokowi’s administration. Indeed, besides the environment being a victim, humans and society also suffer. That is why I decided to present at the international conference about the right to development, specifically focusing on environmental issues –AMDAL.
First thing first, I will provide an overview of the issue. AMDAL (The Environmental Impact Assessment), a significant law product of the reformation era, was conducted in 2009 with sustainable development as its purpose. It was changed by The Job Creation Act. On the other hand, the world is echoing the ‘meaningful participation’ term, which was regulated in the former AMDAL.
This essay—which was also presented at the 7th International Conference on The Right to Development in Lisbon, Portugal, in November 2024—will discuss three important points.
The first point is the changing of AMDAL regulation under Jokowi’s administration. The second discusses the theory of this phenomenon. Lastly, it explains the connection between AMDAL and meaningful participation and why it is important to the developmental right.
AMDAL regulation
To understand this case comprehensively, we should look back to the background of why the reformation era came.
Indonesia, under Soeharto’s administration—prior to the reformation era—was controlled by a centralist government system. This system impacted all the policies, which means the central government as the policy maker –it means centralised–, fostering the ‘KKN’ term (Corruption, Collusion, and Nepotism).
From the centralised government system, we realized the need for a decentralisation system (democracy era), leading to the press freedom policy, fair public elections, the integrity of justice institutions, and regulations that favor the people. One of the regulations is the right to development, which previously depended on the central government and then delivered to local people.
In early 2000, with the awareness of the environmental cases around the world, all governments were increasingly concerned about the environment, including the Indonesian government. In 2009, the Indonesian government conducted the Act No. 32 of 2009 on Environmental Management and Protection, which aims to protect the environment and also to implement sustainable development.
One of the essential things that was regulated in the Act is AMDAL, a requirement that must be fulfilled by the business stakeholders who want to construct its project.
It makes business stakeholders should involve the local people who will be impacted by the project, as well as environmentalists (scientists and green activists). The process should be transparent and detailed in information when delivering the information to the public. Last but not least, people in general also have the right to give their suggestions about the project.
Even though AMDAL’s aim is high-minded to encourage local people in the development project, it is not being practised in the field optimally, such as bribery practices from the stakeholders to the local government, faking the local people, and harming the environment due to improper assessment of environmental impact.
For instance, when I analysed the AMDAL of PLTU Celukan Bawang in the second stage, I discovered that the Stakeholders faked the assessment of AMDAL; they used a document from the previous one.
