'Environmental law should be revised'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Singgih proposed yesterday that
\nthe 1982 law on environmental management should be revised
\nbecause it demands material evidence that prosecutors are rarely
\nable to provide.<\/p>\n
The overly tight requirements explain why polluters charged
\nwith environmental damage often escape punishment, the attorney
\ngeneral said.<\/p>\n
Under the current law, material evidence has to be supported
\nwith data on chemical, biological and toxin contents verified by
\nlaboratory testing.<\/p>\n
The legislation also requires that prosecutors consider the
\npossible social effects of their legal action against the
\npolluter, he was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
\"For example if a factory is closed down for polluting the
\nenvironment, what would happen to its workers? But if it is not
\nshut down, would it really endanger nearby residents?\" he said.<\/p>\n
Article 22 of the environmental law states that anyone
\nconvicted of knowingly damaging or polluting the environment is
\nsubject to a 10-year prison term or a maximum fine of Rp 100
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
At present, legal action is used as a last resort after
\nrepeated appeals, dialogs and administrative approaches have
\nfailed to stop the polluter.<\/p>\n
So complicated is the procedure demanded by the law, only a
\nfew environmental disputes have ever reached court.<\/p>\n
\"Prosecutors find it just too difficult to come up with the
\nevidence required by the law,\" said Ismudjoko, a justice for
\ngeneral crimes.<\/p>\n
He said laboratory testing was a difficult requirement to meet
\ndue to the limited number of suitable facilities.<\/p>\n
Ismudjoko proposed that the government build laboratories in
\neach province to ensure cases of environmental damage are tackled
\nproperly.<\/p>\n
Environmental disputes are mostly settled out of court by the
\nalleged polluter, the public and the government, he said.<\/p>\n
The first prosecution of a polluter was in 1989 when an East
\nJava soy bean curd factory owner was taken to court on charges of
\npolluting the River Surabaya.<\/p>\n
The accused, Bambang Gunawan, was acquitted after witnesses'
\nevidence, obtained from data from two different laboratories,
\nproved to be conflicting.<\/p>\n
Bambang was charged with extensive pollution of the river
\nbetween March 1986 and July 1988. So serious was the
\ncontamination it killed most of the marine life and the water
\ncould barely be processed into drinking water.<\/p>\n
Witnesses from the Surabaya Environment Sanitary Office said
\nthe pollution level had surpassed the maximum tolerable limit but
\nexperts from local industry office reported the level had been
\n\"very low\".<\/p>\n
The outcome of the trial was a disappointment to both
\ngovernment officials and the public. (pan)<\/p>",
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