They worked together to improve the quality of water in the river so that their children and grandchildren could continue to enjoy it. Their story goes on, but it is not a simple one.
By
Sucipto
·5 minutes read
Misman, 60, and Bachtiar, 49, met each other in Samarinda by chance through two things: a friend and a river. Later, they worked together to improve the quality of water in the river so that their children and grandchildren could continue to enjoy it. Their story goes on, but it is not a simple one.
Before 2015, Misman was a journalist in Samarinda who often spent time collecting garbage from the Karang Mumus River. The 40-kilometer river flows through the East Kalimantan city of Samarinda, providing clean water and irrigating community farms.
Misman is born and raised in Samarinda, and remembers swimming and fishing in the Karang Mumus before 1985. As the city grew, he lost his childhood playground. Houses were built along the Karang Mumus watershed (DAS) in the city. Its clear water became brackish, overflowing with garbage at many points.
As time passed, the settlements along the Karang Mumus became more crowded. The plants that grew there were cut down. As a result, the riverside settlements flooded during the rainy season. The government carried out a variety of dredging, house relocation and embankment construction programs. However, flooding remains a problem to this day in Samarinda.
The river that was the children\'s playground dozens of years ago grew dirty and smelly at certain points.
Misman felt that something was wrong with the way the people treated the environment. For him, it was normal for the river to overflow during heavy rain. "Humans should live by adapting to the situation. They should build stilt houses or settle away from watersheds," he said on Friday (6/9/2019).
The river that was the children\'s playground dozens of years ago grew dirty and smelly at certain points. Household waste flows directly into the drains to end up in the river. Misman tried to combat this by using a wooden boat to collect trash from the Karang Mumus River.
He published his activities on social media in the hope that people would become aware and grow uneasy about the condition. He calls it the Garbage Collection Movement on the Karang Musm River, or GMSS-SKM.
Along another stretch of the Karang Mumus, Bachtiar, nicknamed Iya, shared the same concern as Misman. Iyau was also moved to clean up the river. He also has many childhood memories from playing in the river. He used wooden pole to fish out the garbage to form neat piles on the river\'s edge. He then gathered up the trash and transported it to a nearby garbage dump.
Iyau did this regularly. Some of his friends helped by making a long, hooked pole from a length of bamboo for collecting garbage.
"Planting and cultivating trees is more meaningful than thousands of theories that come out of [one’s] mouth."
In 2015, Abdul Basyith had the idea of introducing Iyau to Misman. "He knew about the activities Misman was doing in caring for the Karang Mumus River," said Iyau. Once they were introduced, Iyau and Misman felt new hope. They agreed to work together to save the river for their children and grandchildren’s futures.
Misman and Iyau continue to clean up the Karang Mumus River. Various organizations from Samarinda and beyond came to help them, and later, to support the GMSS-SKM. Misman thought of building a post for monitoring the river. A lot of help arrived in the form of building materials and ideas. Thanks to the assistance from many people, the GMSS-SKM was able to buy 200 square meters of the river land on Jl. Muang Ilir, Gang Tani, RT 27, in Lempake subdistrict of North Samarinda district.
There, they built the Karang Mumus River School, which conducts environmental activities like planting trees on the riverbank. Misman encouraged children to plant trees along a 1-kilometer stretch of the river.
They stress the importance of maintaining vegetation on the riverbank. If the plants thrived, many animals would also thrive. Plants can also prevent landslides. "Planting and cultivating trees is more meaningful than thousands of theories that come out of [one’s] mouth," said Misman.
Once they realized its benefits, the children could spread it to the people around them and later, to their own children.
Iyau added that he hoped that protecting the river would grow into a habit among the children. Once they realized its benefits, the children could spread it to the people around them and later, to their own children.
Aside from the school, the GMSS-SKM runs a garbage collection center on Jl. Abdul Muthalib in Samarinda Ilir district, on one bank of the Karang Mumus. Anyone can use it to collect garbage from the river. The center can also be used to host community service activities, like a posyandu (integrated health service post), an early childhood school and community meetings.
Misman said he did not intend the GMSS-SKM to last forever, and that he wanted it to be dissolved soon. "If everyone realizes that we all need the river, that\'s great. The GMSS-SKM will no longer be needed. We will all preserve the river on our own volition," he said.
Misman
Born: Samarinda, East Kalimantan, 4 April 1959
Education: Social and political science degree, Mulawarman University (not completed); SMEA Pembina 1 Samarinda (now SMEA 1 Samarinda), Class of 1979
Award: East Kalimantan environmental pioneer, 2018