Yogyakarta: Jesuit lies on rubbish to denounce failure to dispose of it

A priest has denounced the decay around the historic St Ignatius College, residence for professors and seminarians. The Indonesian Minister of the Environment demanded immediate action and threatened legal action against the local administration, which admitted to having difficulties.

Yogyakarta (AsiaNews) - A Jesuit priest, Fr. Mutiara Andalas, has attracted the attention of the Indonesian authorities by lying on a mountain of rubbish to denounce the mismanagement of waste disposal in the city of Yogyakarta.

The symbolic gesture, which took place at the beginning of October but only recently went viral on social media, triggered an immediate reaction from the local authorities and the Minister of the Environment, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq.

The rubbish is piled up in a temporary area near the historic St Ignatius College, a residence for Jesuit professors and seminarians. "This mountain of rubbish is located next to our fence and the campus of Sanata Dharma University," Fr Andalas explained to AsiaNews.

The priest was accompanied in the action by a student named Vian, originally from Flores Island in eastern Nusa Tenggara province. "At first we wanted to collect the waste and take it to the Yogyakarta Regional House of Parliament, but we decided to opt for a different gesture to attract more attention."

The spread of the video on social media prompted the environment minister to visit the site. During the visit, Minister Nurofiq floated the idea of taking legal action if the problem is not resolved quickly. "If waste management had been done properly, then such an unfortunate situation would not have occurred at the Mandala Krida site," the minister said, accusing the local administration of neglecting the condition of the depot despite the government having provided several billion rupees for waste disposal. 

Every day, about 300 tonnes of waste are generated in Yogyakarta, but only 180 tonnes are collected and disposed of, admitted Mayor Sugeng Purwanto. The rest remains piled up, exacerbating the risk of sanitation problems for the surrounding community, including St Ignatius College and the Sanata Dharma University campus.

The governor and sultan of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono X, said he was infuriated by the mismanagement of the situation, urging the mayor to address the problem more seriously. However, the lack of coordination with civil agencies and the absence of an effective plan for a fixed disposal site continue to hinder the resolution of the problem.