Subject: IN/POL: IT - Suramadu Bridge Links Religion & Development
INDONESIA-P
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1996 15:52:23 -0400 (EDT)
X-within-URL: http://indocon.com/itolnews/past/june/wed05/h4.htm
Suramadu bridge to link religious and development activities
SURABAYA, E. JAVA (Ant) -- The plan to build a bridge to connect
Surabaya, the provincial capital and financial center of East Java, to
Madura, the island to its east, first made headlines a couple of years
ago.
The media at that time paid serious attention to the plan, not only
because of the magnitude of its construction cost (Rp 500 billion or
US$ 250 million) but also because of fears that the bridge will only
result in too rapid a development process in Madura.
Such fears were mostly aired by Madura's Muslim scholars (ulemas) who
said that without careful studies -- especially on the plan's
socio-cultural impacts -- the local people's religious life will
erode.
The government on the other hand maintained that the bridge is needed
to bring prosperity to Madura, one of the less- developed areas in
East Java.
The pros and cons fortunately led to a thorough dialog between the
government and the ulemas, resulting in an agreement to carry out
development activities in Madura in stages.
This means, the bridge -- to be called the Suramadu Bridge -- will be
constructed first to improve the people's mobility to and from Madura.
Other development programs will follow.
Most East Javanese believe that construction will soon begin, as
indicated by a recent meeting between Indonesian and Japanese
officials.
State Minister for Research and Technology BJ Habibie, the initiator
of the bridge's construction, in a visit to Japan last month discussed
the possibility of getting a soft loan from the Overseas Economic
Cooperative Fund (OECF).
Head of the East Java Development Planning Board (Bappeda) Moehtadi
said that if everything proceeds as expected, construction might start
on November 10.
Heroes Day
"It will coincide with the country's celebration of Heroes Day," he
said, adding that however the OECD has reportedly been asking for some
form of guarantee that the loan will be repaid as scheduled.
According to Moehtadi, the OECF has asked PT Jasa Marga, a state-owned
company under the Public Works Ministry, to be "responsible" for the
loan.
After all, PT Jasa Marga is the local partner in the construction of
the 5- km bridge, he said.
East Java officials also said thorough negotiations are going on,
especially on the scope of responsibilities of those who will take
part in building the bridge.
PT Jasa Marga, for example, has reportedly agreed to take part only in
the construction, but not in the maintenance and operation of the
bridge, they said.
Meanwhile, East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman said he has been
preparing for the construction of the bridge and, eventually, the
industrialization of Madura.
"This means that we are not only going to deal with such
infrastructures as electrical and telecommunication facilities and
clean water networks, but also with the socio- cultural impacts of the
construction of the bridge," he said.
In other words -- from the government's point of view -- the green
light is already on.
Whether the Maduranese see this in the same way however is another
matter.
Madura's ulemas affiliated with the Madura Muslim Boarding Schools
Association (BASRA), for example, believe the government should not
hasten the development process in Madura.
"We are not against the construction of the Suramadu Bridge or the
development and industrialization activities. We only ask for their
careful materialization," said BASRA secretary KH Nuruddin AR.
The Maduranese are a very religious people, hence they are not ready
to accept a sudden large-scale material development and its
consequences, he said.
He adfded that nonetheless, BASRA must also participate in efforts to
prepare the Maduranese for the industrialization of their island.
Gresik
Nuruddin said that hopefully, development programs in Maruda will be
modelled after those in Gresik, a coastal city in East Java which has
retained its religious and socio-cultural values despite
industrialization.
"Gresik was successful in promoting its industrialization programs as
well as its religious or socio- cultural life because they did things
in stages," he said, adding that development activities like those in
Batam, which is close to Singapore, do not suit Madura.
"We in Madura, cannot allow the construction of, say, night bars often
associated with modernization," he said.
Fortunately, his concerns received serious attention from Soedirman
who said the bridge aims to link religious and development activities
in Madura.
"We do not want to erode the religious life of the Maduranese because
Islam has always dominated their lives," he said.
Speaking in a similar note, former governor Soelarso said Batam's
industrialization programs cannot be applied in Madura where the
ulemas are also the authority when it comes to the people's socio-
cultural life.
The ulemas' position in the society has been ''legitimized" from one
generation to another, he said.
"Our industrialization activities will look more like the ones in
Gresik than in Batam," he said. [Edy M Ya'kub]
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