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Lombok Airport Now Being Dogged by... Dogs
Fitri | November 26, 2011

Herds of cows, packs of wild dogs and groups of local residents roaming around the airside areas of Lombok International Airport are posing the newest problem for the less than two-month-old facility. (JG Photo/ Fitri) Herds of cows, packs of wild dogs and groups of local residents roaming around the airside areas of Lombok International Airport are posing the newest problem for the less than two-month-old facility. (JG Photo/ Fitri)
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jusdogin
7:21pm Nov 27, 2011

jetset man are you saying all INdonesians are wild animals?? wild animals live in a zoo - jus wondrin


notreadeeyet
1:45pm Nov 27, 2011

justapasserby.... really... the garbage that you are espousing here makes you sound like a naive schoolkid, perhaps you are.... The issue at stake here is a serious breach of security and safety at an INTERNATIONAL airport that MUST abide by INTERNATIONAL rules and regulations.... There is nothing "community minded" about the airport operator cutting holes in its fence to accomodate the people, it is simply a cheap and illegal solution to the responsibility of building a proper road AROUND the perimeter of the airport by the owner. As for your drivel about not really applying the laws toward littering and smoking, thats again is the typical sort of ideal and response that will ensure that this country continues to remain the third world cesspool that it is, well into th next century. You really must get a clue.....

jetset24
12:34pm Nov 27, 2011

While I somewhat agree with justapasserby, expats who may be married to Indonesians or otherwise single and are living in Indonesia may not always understand the logic and the local culture of handling personal matters. However, there is always room for criticism which is commendable but when criticism is meant to help this nation because outsiders said they do care;I have reservations about it.

There are differences between raising a frustration, being judgmental and being honestly concerned with the issue of the day.

As an outsider myself, I also have to perform a non judgmental balancing act with the logic of a few in this country to get things done.


Jeanne Hachette
8:37am Nov 27, 2011

Top planning and organisation as usual in Indonesia. How long before we have a crash in this airport?

justapasserby
2:41am Nov 27, 2011

In Singapore they can heartlessly fine their fellow citizens big money for littering, or even flogging them. In Indonesia we just dont have the heart to do that to our fellow poor citizens. At least they are not hurting anyone, so what we do is just awareness campaign, billboards or something like that. We as a people just dont have the heart to jail or fine someone just for littering or smoking in the wrong place. Despite the news of some new local ordinance with harsh punishment, I'll bet nobody will be ever persecuted for littering or smoking in public in Indonesia. We'll educate students at school and in television, perhaps try to make people develop some moral guilt about those acts, but that's about it. It will succeed in the long run, so just be patient. We just have too much compassion in our collective heart.

Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Herds of cows, packs of wild dogs and groups of local residents roaming around the airside areas of Lombok International Airport are posing the newest problem for the less than two-month-old facility.

Residents near the airport said that for the past two weeks, cows, goats and buffalo have been straying within a few hundred meters of the runway to graze there.

Tajir Sahroni, a resident of Ketare village, said the problem began when residents of three villages on the periphery of the airport cut a hole in the perimeter fence — with the permission of airport operator Angkasa Pura I.

“The airport construction had cut off the usual access routes between the villages, so Angkasa Pura made a deal with the villagers to cut a hole in its own fence to let them take a shortcut through the airport,” Tajir said.

Thanks to the breach in the fence, he said, villagers and their livestock had been allowed to stray onto the airport grounds.

However, he said he did not think the intrusion posed a safety threat or disrupted the airport’s aviation activities because the hole in the fence — and the area where most of the livestock and people pass through the grounds – is at least half a kilometer away from the runway.

He added that Angkasa Pura I previously promised the residents of the three villages of Abe, Mungrukang and Kampu that it would build them an alternative road around the airport, but it has thus far failed to do so.

If the local administration and the airport operator can address this issue, Tajir said, the residents and their livestock will stop straying onto airport grounds.

“Every morning you see school kids and civil servants going through the hole in the fence and crossing the airport grounds because there’s no alternative route for them,” he said.

Sunting, the head of Tanak Awu village, where the airport is located, confirmed that there had been an issue with livestock roaming in the airport grounds, but he claimed the problem had been resolved on Friday.

“We’ve removed all the cows and buffalo from inside the airport boundaries,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that wild dogs continued to prowl the area, often approaching as far as the apron.

Sunting said the area had been rife with wild dogs even before the airport was built, and he blamed the local administration and Angkasa Pura I for failing to relocate the animals when it constructed the facility.

The dogs stay on the airport grounds because people keep throwing scraps of food into the area, he added.

Ridwan Syah, the head of the provincial communications and information technology office, said the livestock problem had been discussed with the airport operator and community leaders, and immediate measures had been recommended.

He said the provincial livestock agency had been called in to keep the goats and cattle out, while Angkasa Pura I had been asked to cull the wild dogs.

Ridwan called on the airport operator to stop allowing people to use the airport’s airside area as a shortcut, describing the practice as extremely dangerous and prohibited.

I Ketut Erdi Nuke, the airport operator’s general manager, declined to comment on the issue.

The animal problems are just the latest headache for the new Lombok airport, which started operating on Oct. 1.

Shortly after it opened, it faced protests from local residents who claimed they had not been given the jobs promised to them by the operator.

The opening of the airport was delayed several times during the past few years for a number of reasons, including budget issues, theft of construction materials, land disputes and problems with the control tower.