From Ecological Defiance to Environmental Political Advocacy: Explaining the Transformation of the Mollo Women's Movement in South Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara

Audra Jovani (Universitas Kristen Indonesia)

JPW (Jurnal Politik Walisongo)
Vol. 8 No. 1 (2026)

The present study discusses the social movement organized the women and people of Mollo—a movement that advocated environmental sustainability and rejected marble mining activities conducted in Mollo, South Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara. Aleta Baun, the figure who led this movement, elucidated how the strength can be amplified when accompanied by local philosophy. Along with 150 other women from Mollo, Aleta Baun occupied a mine and started weaving, an act that signifies protecting the earth's honor. This movement is analyzed through an ecofeminist perspective, a feminist and ecological movement in a localized area. This study uses a qualitative method and the data is collected through document study and an in-depth interview with Aleta Baun, the initiator of this movement and a representative of East Nusa Tenggara’s Regional People’s Representative Assembly during the 2014-2019 period. The principal finding of this research reveals that the movement succeeded in eliminating the mining company from their area. Aleta Baun then proceeded on becoming a legislative member that participated in environmental policy-making.