Ahmad Bil Wahid, Jakarta – Scores of students held a protest action in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building Wednesday opposing the Omnibus Law on Job Creation which is still being deliberated by the parliament.

Jakarta – Several non-government organisations (NGOs) have rejected an invitation to hold a joint meeting at the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) to discuss the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation.

Jakarta – The Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) office in the East Java capital of Surabaya was besieged by scores of people wearing black safari suits from the mass organisation (ormas) Pancasila Youth (PP) and other affiliated groups.

From an oped piece titled Annual floods.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) says that there are some 94 open pits on former mining sites which have yet to be restored or rehabilitated in East Kalimantan – the area earmarked for the construction of the country’s new capital city.

Adi Ahdiat, Jakarta – According to a report by the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), regions which have a large number of mining concessions were hit by some of the worst flooding in 2019.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says that the state has set a bad example which has encouraged companies to set fire to forests and land.

Andhika Prasetia, Pekanbaru -- A state of emergency has been declared in Riau province due to the haze from forest and land fires (karhutla). Hoping for rain to get rid of the haze, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has held a salat istisqa -- a prayer for rain from Allah during drought.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says that the deployment of the TNI (Indonesian military) and Polri (Indonesian police) personnel to help extinguish forest and land fires (Karhutla) fails to address the root cause of the problem.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) says that eighty percent of the land destroyed by forest fires in Indonesia this year will be converted into plantations, pointing the blame for the fires at unsustainable practices in the country’s agriculture industry.