Megawati rapped for neglecting environment<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Environmental experts have criticized President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri for failing to address serious environmental
\nproblems in her annual report to the People's Consultative
\nAssembly (MPR), saying it reflected the government's lack of
\nconcern for the issue.<\/p>\n
Megawati did not mention environmental issues in her speech on
\nFriday, in which she focused on the government's efforts to
\neradicate separatism and terrorism.<\/p>\n
\"It shows that the government and political parties have no
\nidea about how to address the environmental problems we are
\nfacing,\" former state minister for the environment Sarwono
\nKusumaatmadja said on Saturday in Sukabumi, West Java.<\/p>\n
He was speaking to The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an
\nannual gathering of recipients of Sampoerna Foundation
\nscholarships.<\/p>\n
Sarwono said the government should not ignore strategic issues
\nsuch as education, health and the environment.<\/p>\n
\"The government should inform the public about the latest
\nsituation in these sectors, and what it has been doing to improve
\nthe situation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Longgena Ginting, executive director of the Indonesian Forum
\nfor the Environment (Walhi), concurred with Sarwono.<\/p>\n
\"Megawati's regime is one that has no clear environmental
\nagenda,\" he said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Megawati presented her report to MPR members on Friday,
\nclaiming successes in the areas of political stability, national
\nsecurity, the drive against terrorism and the economy.<\/p>\n
The speech also emphasized the government's determination to
\nwipe out separatism in Aceh, Papua and other troubled areas.<\/p>\n
However, the president was low-key on her cabinet's
\nperformance in addressing other crucial issues such as
\ncorruption, and did not even mention education, health, and the
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has seen serious environmental destruction as the
\nresult of unchecked deforestation and illegal logging in its
\nforests, including protected ones, across the country.<\/p>\n
Disasters like landslides, floods, droughts and forest fires
\nare annual problems in the country, all of which are blamed on
\nsevere deforestation and illegal logging. These disasters inflict
\nbillions of dollars of losses on the country ever year.<\/p>\n
In some areas, the disasters have claimed hundreds of lives.<\/p>\n
Water and air pollution as well as industrial waste also pose
\na serious threat to human health due to poor management and
\ncontrol on the part of the authorities.<\/p>\n
Ginting urged the government to formulate concrete action to
\nresolve the country's environmental problems.<\/p>\n
The Megawati administration should focus on the environment as
\nmuch as it did on national security so as to prevent further
\ndestruction and degradation, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, how will we really be able to escape from the
\ncrisis if future development is not sustainable,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Citing an example, Ginting said the government should show its
\ncommitment to upholding MPR Decree No. 9\/2001 on agrarian reform
\nand natural resources management through the enactment of a law
\non natural resources management, and the establishment of a body
\nto settle land disputes.<\/p>\n
\"But what we see on the ground is that the government has done
\nnothing to implement the decree,\" he said.<\/p>",
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