Have you ever experienced a day without food? How about losing your land or losing your culture, or losing your income? The worst is losing your family, or having your sweet daughter forced into becoming as a prostitute because, lacking money and a decent education, she can't find a proper job.
Nobody wants such a life -- but many people's lives are exactly like that due to flaws in Japan's Official Development Assistance program. ODA is intended to bring prosperity to people overseas, but in some cases, such as the Kotopanjang Dam in Indonesia's West Sumatra, the result is just the opposite.
"That is why we had to sue the Japanese government -- which provided the funding -- and all the Japanese parties involved in Kotopanjang, in Tokyo District Court last Wednesday," said Adhel Yusirman, an Indonesian lawyer.