By Mathias Hariyadi
INDONESIA – A bold and unconventional protest by a Jesuit priest has sparked action from Indonesian government officials, leading to the cleanup of a massive pile of trash near the historic Ignatius College compound in Yogyakarta.
Fr Mutiara Andalas, a Jesuit theology lecturer, had laid atop a heap of garbage in early October to draw attention to the mismanagement of waste in the area.
The trash, which was located in a temporary disposal site behind the Kolese Santo Ignatius (Kolsani) residential house and near the 5th campus of Sanata Dharma University, had been an ongoing issue.
“This huge pile of trash is located and ‘attached’ in our Kolsani’s fence that is also behind the 5th campus of Sanata Dharma University,” the priest told LiCAS News on Wednesday.
His protest, video-recorded and shared on social media, gained traction earlier this week. Joining him in the act was Vian, a pastoral and catechist student from Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara, studying at Sanata Dharma University.
“Initial ideas to show our serious concern were made by picking up the trash and bringing it to Yogyakarta’s Regional House of Parliament (DPRD). But we canceled this action and changed it into different acting exposure,” explained Vian.
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