Selling Indonesia's coast for cheap prawns and profit

Set against the looming construction cranes and gleaming plastic roofs of the newly built factories, the last remaining fishing village in Jakarta Bay looks increasingly out of place.

For countless generations the community here at Marunda Kepu village have eeked out a living from the sea; farming fish, collecting mussels and setting nets in the estuaries and shallow coastal waters of this region of Northern Java.

But today they live in squalour, penned in by industrial developments all around them. Puddles of stagnant water surround the crumbling brick homes and disease is rife.

'My livelihood is the sea. If there is no more access to the coast or the sea then where should i go? How can I live?' asked Habiba, as she nursed her sick child.

She is referring to the impact of the ‘coastal areas and small island management law’, or HP-3 as it is more commonly known. If passed, HP-3 will allow all of the commonly-held land on and around the Marunda Kepu community, as well as the coastal waters and the seabed up to 12 km offshore, to be offered to the highest bidder, on leases lasting up to 60 years.

'HP-3 will definitely destroy our livelihood: the more...

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