ABSTRACT
In 1993, Sukatip, a primary school pupil who lives in a coastal village in Lombok, wrote a piece for a local magazine produced by fellow students. The journal was called Geram, an acronym for Gerakan Anak Merdeka, or the Children’s Freedom Movement. This is what he wrote:
The sea at the place where we kids used to catch fish was very clear, so we could see when the nener [small fish] were around. But the water is dirty now, because the people who live in the area where we go fishing often throw their rubbish into the sea. The sea has also become polluted because of the oil from the engines of the [motorised] fishing boats, which also kills the nener, and makes them disappear. The coral that is used by all the sea creatures for protection is destroyed now because it was taken to make lime [for cement].
