SIDOARJO, Indonesia — On the eve of Indonesia’s presidential election on Feb. 14, a group of people from across the country gathered at an impromptu art exhibition by the side of a main road in Sidoarjo district, East Java province. One canvas, propped up on a roadside verge, featured caricatures of the three candidates vying to replace President Joko Widodo after a decade in government; it’s title, in Indonesian, was “Elections in the Grip of the Oligarchy.” A collection of 10 caricatures and cartoons by artist Toni Malakian illustrated a satirical chronology of the Lapindo mudflow spanning almost two decades, right here in Sidoarjo, beginning with the onset of the disaster in 2006 to the ongoing fallout experienced by its victims in the present day. For some of the tens of thousands who were made homeless by the disaster, Indonesia’s February election was a time to remind and to raise awareness of their experience. “Since 2006, rules were passed [to address the disaster],” said Harwati from Sidoarjo’s Siring village, referring to the year her family was made homeless by the Lapindo disaster. “But for us they haven’t been realized.” Coal mining in East Kalimantan. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Mud slinging On May 29, 2006, a trickle of mud began to emerge from the middle of a rice field near Herwati’s home, set back from a gas exploration site a short drive south of Indonesia’s second city, Surabaya. The trickle turned into a gush, and then a torrent, submerging 12…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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