1. ENVI (1 X 30)<\/p>\n
"Govt lacks will to reduce pollution"<\/p>\n
Environmentalists have said the government must pay more
\nattention to the environment in its development policies, in
\norder to reduce pollution problems at home before it is too late.<\/p>\n
"The way the government manages the government is way off
\ntrack," executive director of the Indonesian Center of
\nEnvironmental Law (ICEL) Wiwiek Awiati told the Jakarta Post on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
She said the government was not sufficiently aware of the
\nenvironment, as evident from its weak environmental policies and
\npoor enforcement of the law against those violating environmental
\nregulations.<\/p>\n
"Law enforcement against polluters cannot be upheld, and
\nenvironmental legislation lacks power to deter them here;
\ntherefore, many polluters remain untouchable," she said.<\/p>\n
The US$1 million fine imposed on plantation firm PT Adei
\nPlantation for clearing land using slash-and-burn methods was
\nencouraging, but not enough, said Wiwiek.<\/p>\n
"What about air, water and waste polluters?" she added.<\/p>\n
Wiwiek was responding to the World Bank report on the
\nenvironment in Indonesia, which said the country was under threat
\nfrom air, water, solid and hazardous waste pollution.<\/p>\n
The Environment Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), which is
\nexpected to take a leading role in environmental conservation as
\na result of its authority to approve environmental impact
\nassessments (Amdal), was powerless, she said.<\/p>\n
Worse still, the government managed to allocate only a small
\nbudget to the Office of the State Minister of the Environment,
\nthus limiting its scope to chase polluters, she said.<\/p>\n
The monitoring of companies that are prone to polluting the
\nenvironment remained insufficiently thorough, which left the
\ngovernment with inadequate evidence to sue them.<\/p>\n
Senior official at the Office of the State Minister of the
\nEnvironment Masnellyarti Hilman admitted that limited funding was
\nthe main obstacle to her office's efforts.<\/p>\n
"We even have difficulty in monitoring environmental quality
\nat the sites of large companies such as Newmont Minahasa Raya,
\nFreeport Indonesia and Toba Pulp Lestari," she said.<\/p>\n
Wiwiek said there were many confusing regulations related to
\nthe environment, which caused conflict between environmental and
\nindustrial interests.<\/p>\n
Law No 41\/1999, which bans opencast mining in protected
\nforest, is still expected, by mining companies, to be amended.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Forum on the Environment (Walhi) executive director
\nLonggena Ginting agreed with Wiwiek.<\/p>\n
He claimed that environmental management by the government in
\nthe last seven years had deteriorated, in view of the huge number
\nof incidents involving pollution and environmental disasters.<\/p>\n
Ginting even accused the current government of being a regime
\nwithout an environmental agenda.<\/p>\n
Wiwiek suggested that the government start improving the
\nenvironment by implementing a system of linked licenses for
\ncompanies, ranging from operating to environmental licenses.<\/p>\n
"Thus, if a company pollutes the environment, the state
\nminister of the environment revokes the environmental license,
\nand the other licenses are automatically revoked, too," she said.<\/p>\n
The government should also establish under one roof an
\nenvironmental enforcement body, comprising civil servants, police
\nand prosecutors, to help simplify the process of legal action,
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
For the sake of justice, the Supreme Court ought to establish
\na special court for environmental cases due to the huge impact of
\npollution on people and the environment.<\/p>\n
"The public must also continuously monitor law enforcement on
\npolluters," she said.<\/p>\n
She added that companies that managed to protect the
\nenvironment deserved incentives.<\/p>\n
2. IMAM (3 X 14)<\/p>\n
Amrozi refuses
\nto testify in
\nSamudra trial<\/p>\n
Another show of defiance marked the trial of Imam Samudra on
\nThursday when Amrozi bin Nurhasyim refused to testify against the
\ndefendant, making him the second key witness to adopt the stance.<\/p>\n
"I don't want to take an oath and I refuse to give any
\ntestimony," Amrozi said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Amrozi's older brother Ali Gufron refused to
\ntestify against Imam Samudra, the alleged mastermind of the Bali
\nbombings, in which at least 202 people perished, mostly
\nforeigners.<\/p>\n
Following the tactic previously employed by Gufron, Amrozi
\nbased his refusal on Article 168 of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n
The article stipulates that any person who is related to the
\ndefendant or is being prosecuted in the same case as him, has the
\nlegal right not to testify against him.<\/p>\n
Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron have been indicted with
\nthe same primary charge of planning and organizing the bombings,
\nan offense that carries the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Presiding judge I Wayan Sugawa showed his irritation with
\nAmrozi's refusal by trying to corner the witness into saying
\nwhich section of Article 168 he had based his stance on.<\/p>\n
After thinking the question through for a moment, Amrozi, who
\nwas apparently unaware that the article comprised three different
\nsections, gave a short reply.<\/p>\n
"Well, Article 168, in that article," he said.<\/p>\n
Citing the Supreme Court decision dated March 21, 1990 on
\nadmissible exceptions to the article, Sugawa tried in vain to
\nforce Amrozi to testify.<\/p>\n
Losing his patience, Sugawa ordered the prosecutors to
\napproach the bench and submitted Amrozi's police interrogation
\nfile (BAP). He also asked Amrozi to approach the bench to confirm
\nthe authenticity of the document.<\/p>\n
Realizing that the judge was going to take the file as
\nevidence in place of testimony, Samudra's lawyers voiced their
\nobjection. Sugawa angrily overruled the motion.<\/p>\n
Amrozi responded by immediately returning to his seat, looking
\nSugawa straight in his eyes before reiterating his stance.<\/p>\n
"I will not testify. Period," he said angrily.<\/p>\n
Chief prosecutor I Nyoman Dila later read the summary of the
\ninterrogation file.<\/p>\n
According to the file, Amrozi had confessed that there were
\nseveral planning and preparatory meetings prior to the bombings.
\nThose meetings were conducted at different places in Sukoharjo
\nand Surakarta.<\/p>\n
"The file is not true because I was coerced into signing it,"
\nAmrozi said.<\/p>\n
Amrozi was among the five witnesses summoned to testify at
\nThursday's trial. The trial will resume next Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Separately, the trials of 12 other defendants in the Bali
\nbombings were held at five different venues at Denpasar Public
\nCourt.<\/p>\n
3. INFO (2 X 21)<\/p>\n
"No need to set up
\ninformation commission"<\/p>\n
Television industry figures argued on Thursday that disputes
\nbetween the public and the state over access to information
\nshould be solved through the State Administrative Court rather
\nthan an information commission.<\/p>\n
The secretary-general of the Television Community (Komteve)
\norganization, Helmy Johannes, and the secretary-general of the
\nIndonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI), Rahman,
\nsaid that setting up a new commission would be a waste of money.<\/p>\n
"We already have too many commissions. It would be better if
\nthe dispute over information be brought to the State
\nAdministrative Court," Helmy said during a hearing with members
\nof the House of Representatives' special committee for the
\ndeliberation of the freedom of information bill.<\/p>\n
"It would only place an additional burden on the state
\nbudget," Rahman said.<\/p>\n
The television industry figures were invited to provide input
\nfor the legislators in their deliberation of the much-awaited
\nfreedom of information bill.<\/p>\n
Article 29 of the bill states that the proposed information
\ncommission would be an independent body tasked to settle disputes
\nvia mediation or adjudication.<\/p>\n
The information commission would be set up at national,
\nprovincial and regency levels.<\/p>\n
Although opposing the establishment of the information
\ncommission, the television industry figures agreed that there
\nshould be some information exempted from the public domain.<\/p>\n
But, Helmy said, the proportion of information disclosed to
\nthe public must be greater than that exempted from disclosure.<\/p>\n
According to Helmy, the freedom of information bill must
\nensure public access to information.<\/p>\n
The information that could be exempted from the public domain
\nincluded security information, commercial information, and
\ninformation about the location of oil wells.<\/p>\n
In addition to limits on access to specific information, the
\nlegislators are also preparing an official secrets bill to
\nprotect state secrets from the public.<\/p>\n
Activists grouped under the Coalition for Freedom of
\nInformation have expressed fears that the official secrets bill
\nwill affect public access to information, and has repeatedly
\ncalled for this bill to be incorporated into the freedom of
\ninformation bill.<\/p>\n
Despite suggestions from the coalition, the House has decided
\nto discuss the two bills separately.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the House committee in charge of deliberating
\nthe freedom of information bill, Paulus Widiyanto, said recently
\nthat the official secrets bill would be discussed after the
\nfreedom of information bill.<\/p>\n
"A consultative meeting of faction leaders has agreed to
\ndiscuss the secrets bill as soon as the deliberation of the
\nfreedom of information bill has finished," Paulus said.<\/p>\n
4. UU10 (1 X 36)<\/p>\n
House plans to revise population law<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives Commission VII on health and
\npopulation is proposing a revision to Law No. 10\/1992 on
\npopulation growth and family welfare.<\/p>\n
Commission chairman Posma Tobing told The Jakarta Post
\nWednesday that the amendment was necessary as the current law did
\nnot fit with regional autonomy, which came into effect in 2001.<\/p>\n
"The law was drafted when the country was adopting a
\ncentralized system, therefore most policies came from the top."<\/p>\n
He said that after the inception of regional autonomy there
\nwas the possibility that regional administrations were ignoring
\npopulation issues as central government control relaxed.<\/p>\n
Citing an example, Posma said the role of the National Family
\nPlanning Board (BKKBN) at regional level had been considerably
\nreduced as it used to carry out programs at the behest of the
\ncentral government.<\/p>\n
Posma said population was a national issue and should be of
\nconcern to each regional administration in the country.<\/p>\n
The current law did not enable the country to deal with global
\nissues related to population, particularly gender issues, men's
\nparticipation, reproduction rights and infertility, Posma said.<\/p>\n
"Our country has pledged to comply with several
\nrecommendations on global issues agreed in international forums
\non population, including in the International Conference on
\nPopulation and Development in Cairo in 1994 and the Millennium
\nDevelopment Summit in New York in 2000," Posma said.<\/p>\n
The absence of a special institution and officials responsible
\nfor population and family planning were another flaw in the
\nexisting law.<\/p>\n
The draft amendment will involve population experts, including
\nBKKBN deputy chairman Siswanto Agus Wilopo, Demographic
\nFoundation chairperson Srihariati Hatmadji, Indonesian Doctors
\nAssociation (IDI) medical legal committee chairman Herkutanto and
\nCenter of Population Study and Policy vice president Sukamdi.<\/p>\n
Posma said the team was expected to complete the draft law in
\nSeptember.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/1-envi-1-x-30-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }