In a second open letter, Indonesian NGOs detail their needs so that an open dialogue can take place.
On March 16th, 2012, several Indonesian NGO’s wrote an open letter to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Ministry of Indonesia critiquing the draft of the Forest Investment Program (FIP). They cited a lack of Indonesian translations for needed documents, a far too short two-week window for feedback from concerned citizens, and other difficulties which stood in the way of accessing needed information.
The Joint FIP team has since responded by posting an Indonesian translation of the documents on their site, but this is not enough to overcome the problem. In a second open letter, the Indonesian NGOs make clear why this is not an adequate response:
“We are aware that the Forest Investment Plan has recently been made available in Indonesian at your webpage. However, simply posting the document on a web page will not guarantee real involvement of the public and affected communities.”
The letter also reminds the World Bank of their stated responsibilities:
“In general, we are disappointed by the letter sent by the Joint FIP Team… as we cannot see that the letter adequately answers our concerns. We cannot accept the excuse of limited time and technical difficulties, as the complexity of the issue and the variety of stakeholders are well known and should have been anticipated by the by the Joint FIP team. This is why there is an absolute need to make the document available in both Indonesian and local languages, in line with the World Bank and ADB’s own internal policies…”
Indonesian NGO’s second open letter (English version)Indonesian NGO’s second open letter (Indonesian version)