2005: A year of no clean air to breath
2005: A year of no clean air to breath
Tb. Arie Rukmantara
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Indonesians in many parts of the country were still unable to
enjoy clean air this year due to chronic pollution.
Choking haze from the annual forest fires in Sumatra earlier this
year covered most of the region's sky, including Malaysia's and
Singapore's, for weeks before firemen from neighboring countries
came to help put out the fires raging over thousands of hectares
of forests in the western part of Indonesia.
Sumatrans, Malaysians and Singaporeans had to put on masks to
keep them from inhaling the smoky air. Schools were closed and
flights were delayed as visibility only reached between 300 to
500 meters.
Noted environmentalist and former environment minister Emil Salim
called it the Asia brown haze and urged Asian countries to
cooperate in tackling the environmental problems.
Most environmentalists agreed that the blaze was caused by fires
lighted by illegal loggers and land-clearing activities to open
new plantations and urged the government to take a firm stand to
punish the perpetrators.
"It is not enough to say that the fires have been started by some
Malaysian-owned companies (operating plantations in Sumatra). All
of these fires are taking place within Indonesia's borders, it is
therefore the Indonesian government's responsibility to put out
the fires and eliminate the health and air traffic hazards caused
by them," wrote a Singaporean, Paul E. Rantau, to The Jakarta
Post.
The government responded by arresting several executives from
logging companies, both local and foreign.
The haze problem also highlights the rapid deforestation rate in
the country, which according to some estimate stands at around
2.8 million hectares per year, due to widespread illegal logging
activities.
The Center for Environment Management at the Office of the State
Minister for the Environment reported that fires had burned
forest areas in North Sumatra, Riau and Jambi provinces. The
conflagration in Riau, which had over 500 hot spots, razed 25,000
hectares of forest this year.
As rains fell in the region, the haze disappeared for a while.
Nevertheless, the government had not drawn up a concrete formula
to tackle the problem, other than promising to cooperate with
neighboring countries to battle the fires and haze.
Even without the haze, Indonesians still have to deal with
ongoing chronic air pollution caused by motorized vehicles.
A joint study carried out by the Office of the State Minister of
the Environment and the Committee for Leaded Gasoline Phase-out
(KPBB) revealed in late November that cars and motorcycles in
three major cities in the country -- Palembang, Makasar and Medan
-- were still using leaded gasoline, which poses a threat to
people's health and can stunt mental development.
The report of the monitoring showed that gasoline samples taken
in Palembang contained 0.58 g/L of lead, Makassar (0.272 g/L) and
Medan (0.213 gr/L), while the content of sulfur in diesel fuel
sold in 10 major cities reached more than the acceptable maximum
limit of 500 parts per million (ppm).
"About 80 percent of countries in the world have been using
unleaded fuel for years," said Ahmad Safrudin, KPBB coordinator.
"This is humiliating."
He warned that should state oil and gas company Pertamina fail to
supply enough unleaded fuel across the country, the next
generation would suffer not only health problems but would also
experience stunted mental development.
The study said that last year, people in major cities only
enjoyed clean air for less than two months in a year, with
Jakarta residents enjoying clean air for only 18 days.
"The situation has not changed yet," Ahmad said.
The government argued that it could not afford to produce about
15 kiloliters of free-leaded gasoline to supply some 40 million
cars and motorcycles across the nation.
According to the Office of the State Minister for the
Environment's calculation, each liter of unleaded gasoline
requires Rp 200 in extra costs, which is equal to about Rp 2
trillion every year.
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar, said he was
ashamed that the country still used such a hazardous fuel, but
added that the cash-strapped government had other urgent budget
priorities.
Challenging the government's argument, environmental activists
said a World Bank study showed that the air pollution had cost
Indonesians US$548 million in social and health losses from 1995
to 2000.
Ahmad said, "A smart government would prefer to invest Rp 2
trillion a year rather than let its people suffer millions of
dollars in losses."
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive director
Chalid Muhammad said nothing was expensive when it came to
ensuring the rights to a clean environment for the country's
population.
"The government has failed to protect, fulfill and respect the
basic rights of the people -- the right to a healthy
environment," Chalid said recently in conjunction with Human
Rights Day.
Responding to the criticism, Minister Rachmat pledged to punish
those who harmed the country's environment by empowering its
civil investigators to be able to investigate, arrest and sue
companies that caused pollution.
"I'll sue companies that have been blacklisted in our
environmental audit and empower our civil investigators to cut
short the legal procedures," he told the Post.
However, facts speaks differently. Recently the government
decided not to appeal the South Jakarta District Court's verdict
that overturned its lawsuit against mining firm PT Newmont
Minahasa Raya, which allegedly had polluted Buyat Bay in North
Sulawesi, recommending that the case be settled out of court.
Chalid urged the government to take into account the human rights
perspective in adjudicating environmental crime.
"In a human rights violation case, there's no such thing as a
compromise," he said.