Gede Pasek Suardika: Bali Turtle Seal Only Law Entertainment, Not Law Enforcement

JAKARTA - The most influential senior lawyer in Bali, Gede Pasek Suardika (GPS), launched a harsh criticism of the sealing of the Kura-Kura Bali area by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP).

According to him, as long as the legal process stops at administrative sanctions, the public does not need to expect much.

"When it comes to administrative fines, this is just entertainment law - not law enforcement," said Suardika.

Officials from the Directorate General of PSDKP KKP sealed off part of the Bali Turtle Kura area managed by PT Bali Turtle Island Development (PT BTID), Thursday, May 7.

The findings in the field are that the company is suspected of utilizing 1.12 hectares of sea space outside the limits of the PKKPRL permit it owns, and is suspected of cutting down around 500 square meters of protected mangrove forest.

Kura-Kura responded briefly: committed to replanting 700 mangrove trees.

The KKP emphasized that this action was not to complicate investment, but to ensure that every activity was carried out in accordance with regulations and the principles of blue economy - a balance between economic growth and the sustainability of the marine ecosystem.

However, for GPS, the commitment to plant trees and administrative sanctions are not a measure of seriousness.

He referred to two previous cases as a comparison.

"Polda Bali has ever prosecuted an adat village head on the grounds of damaging mangrove forests. And there is a case of a former head of the DLHK who was a suspect, then the case went into a lonely dark alley," he said.

Two precedents, two different results. Both are a mirror of how environmental law enforcement in Bali can have a double face depending on who is involved.

"The public will only believe if the police carry out a criminal process, take back the land, and return it to its original function," said Gede Pasek.

"If not, soon this case will be blown up. This kind of performance is shown too often," he continued.

What is more tickling is the contradiction at the central level. Only a few days before the sealing, a minister from a different ministry publicly praised the Kura-Kura investor. Then another ministry came with a seal board.

Gede Pasek did not miss the irony.

"What needs to be suspected is what is going on with the central government - where one minister praises investors as high as the sky, and other ministries even enforce the law only a few days apart," he said.

He even alluded to a larger context: plans to make this area an Indonesia Financial Centre that will rival Dubai.

"Hopefully this is not a show of cake grabbing. The issues raised are feared to be only for the entrance to get a share, not pure law enforcement. Know yourself how powerful the oligarchy is when you play," he said.

Until this news was released, the KKP stated that the administrative sanction process against PT BTID was still ongoing. There has been no announcement regarding the criminal investigation.

The seal board is already installed. The question now is not whether the rules are violated - but whether the board will last, or one day be quietly removed as is already the case.