Voices from the Border
People living in the hinterland of remote West Kalimantan province, along the Indonesian-Malaysian border, gets little attention from the government and outsiders. Their forests are rapidly disappearing, cut down by big plantation companies. There is virtually no infrastructure development and public services are far from adequate. Alexander Mering, a journalist residing in the provincial capital of Pontianak, tries to improve this condition, by calling on the local people to raise their voices and fight injustice through a movement called 'village journalism.' For his efforts, this ethnic Dayak reporter-activist was conferred the Pelita Nusantara Award by the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for the Millenium Development Goals. Tempo English reports from West Kalimantan.
April 22, 2014
Rubber Versus Palm Oil
To defend their forest from palm oil companies, young men from West Kalimantan planted rubber trees. Before long their parents, skeptical at first, began to follow suit.
Every weekend, Januardi attends to the rubber tree saplings in his backyard. He planted the seeds himself. Now 100 of them are ready to be transferred into the forest. "I have an ambition to own a rubber plantation. This is for my future savings," he said.
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