Environmentalists lament no action against polluters<\/p>\n
By Stevie Emilia<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Environmentalists yesterday lauded the
\ngovernment for naming the domestic companies that pollute rivers,
\nbut lamented the lack of follow-up legal action.<\/p>\n
Emmy Hafild of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi),
\nMas Achmad Santosa of the Indonesian Center for Environmental
\nLaw, and Suwiryo Ismail of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation
\nall expressed their disappointment that no strong action had been
\ntaken against companies polluting the rivers.<\/p>\n
\"The lack of legal action is a Bapedal weakness,\" one of the
\nactivists said, referring to the Environmental Impact Management
\nAgency (Bapedal), the government's environmental watchdog, which
\nannounced on Wednesday the names of domestic companies causing
\nriver pollution.<\/p>\n
Companies were rated either \"gold\", \"green\", \"blue\", \"red\" or
\n\"black\" in descending order, for their efforts toward protecting
\nthe environment. Out of the 120 companies evaluated, only one
\ncompany was awarded a \"green\", none a \"gold\", six were \"black-
\nlisted\", 80 were categorized \"red\", and the remaining 33 were
\ngiven a \"blue\" rating.<\/p>\n
\"It is the government's responsibility, not the community's,
\nto take legal action against those companies,\" Emmy told The
\nJakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
The companies, especially the worst offenders who were rated
\n\"black,\" should be taken to court. \"Social punishment is not
\nenough,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"The companies do not care about the environment or the local
\ncommunities who suffer from the pollution. They only care about
\nmaking profits, they should be ordered to make amends and to
\nrestore the damaged environment,\" said Emmy.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who
\nchairs Bapedal, has said the ratings cannot be used as a legal
\nweapon for suing environmental polluters. Instead, the ratings
\nare to inform people affected by pollution and help them to
\ninitiate legal action against the offenders.<\/p>\n
Emmy acknowledged the agency's limitations but suggested that
\nthe limitations be addressed by giving the agency the authority
\nto pursue legal action.<\/p>\n
Mas Achmad Santosa and Suwiryo called on the agency to
\ninvestigate options for initiating legal action against the
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
\"The agencies homework will be to discover ways of increasing
\nits powers to take legal action,\" Achmad told the Post.<\/p>\n
Suwiryo said the absence of legal action against the companies
\ndemonstrated a lack of coordination, a lack of political will
\nfrom the government and the inadequacies of the legal system in
\nhandling environmental problems.<\/p>\n
He criticized the agency for employing evaluation processes
\nwhich failed to involve the communities whose lives were most
\naffected by pollution.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/environmentalists-lament-no-action-against-polluters-1447893297",
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