Residents protest oil pollution at Seribu islands

Tens of environmental activists staged a protest at the Jakarta City Hall on Thursday against the alleged oil pollution in some areas in Seribu islands, a major tourist resort near Jakarta, Koran Tempo reported Friday.

The protesters said that a number of locations both at sea and coastal areas in the Seribu islands including Pantara Barat, Pantara Timur, Matahari and Serabu Kecil islands had been polluted by oil spills.

They said that the pollution had not only killed fishes in the area but also damaged the beauty of the islands, an important tourist destination for people from Jakartan and surrounding areas.

The protesters carried a banner saying that Governor Sutiyoso and oil firm CNOOC Limited as the main culprits of the pollution. They also demanded the governor to take a stern action against CNOOC and to clean the oil spills in the areas.

The paper did not mention the name of the protesters' organization.

Earlier, the Jakarta-based Environmental Preservation said CNOOC?s oil drilling activities had caused pollution in the seawaters near Pabelokan, one of the Thousand islands. Crude from the drilling site had damaged area coral reefs, said the organization which claimed to have conducted a survey in the Pabelokan seawaters. (*)