Annisah Mulyaning Zulfasari is a student at the Sociology Department chapter 2015 at the Faculty of Social and Humanity Sciences, UIN Sunan Kalijaga. As a native of Jepara, the social-environment changes in the hometown becomes her serious concern, especially after studying sociology. Social studies have trained Annisah to sense the occurred changes in the surrounding her.

The researching choice of PLTU Tanjung Jati B in Jepara is a big challenge for her. During the tension and conflict between people and government, mining, and other large projects which demanding massive land acquisition, Annisah is challenged to carry out independent research to fulfill the undergraduate requirement. This undergraduate thesis entitled “Industrialisasi Pedesaan dan Dampak Keberadaan PLTU Tanjung Jati B Terhadap Perubahan Sosial Ekonomi Masyarakat Desa Tubanan, Kecamatan Kembang Kabupaten Jepara”. This undergraduate thesis is supervised by Dr. Sulistyaningsih, M.Sc., an economist, and a rural sociologist.

When she was contacted via WhatsApp, Annisah said that she was interested to choose the topic about PLTU TJB in Jepara because she observed that the PLTU had caused very significant changes in the village communities and even the Jepara people in general. “In my opinion, Jepara is a small city lying on the Java coast. However, the establishment of PLTU TJB has changed many things massively, both positive and negative,” Annisah said.

This research confirms the negative impact of PLTU on the surrounding people. Some problems like the dust pollution in the air caused by the PLTU engine system, hot weather, and rarely rains so the farmers’ fields within a radius having harvest failure, salt rains, and the damage of the sea habitats are the serious problems facing the community.

On the other hand, Annisah presented data from the Tubanan village which showed positive graph changes. By the village data, the researcher was able to inform a positive graph toward the increasing income of the villagers around the PLTU. Besides, the increasing number of people who continuing higher education became Annisah's attention. In 2011, when the new PLTU was inaugurated, there were only 75 people who continue to lecture and in 2008 there were 115.

The research process was not easy. “There are many challenges. Because I am a woman, I don't dare to research too far. One of the challenges was the distance between Annisah’s house and the research location was taken 45 minutes, and I had interviewed people there at night passing a forest and it was very quiet,” he recalled.

Finally, long struggle research completed. The undergraduate thesis findings could be used as reading material to see the positive and negative impacts of PLTU which must be a common awareness in the community. (@bjeben)

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