Bill to amend environmental law deemed unprogressive
Bill to amend environmental law deemed unprogressive
JAKARTA (JP): Legal and environmental experts have said they
doubt the bill to amend the environmental law will bring any
significant progress because it barely addresses fundamental
problems.
They proposed, at a seminar Thursday, the public be given
greater participation in the decision-making processes of their
communities and that an agency be established to monitor
implementation of the law.
The bill is being scrutinized by the state secretariat who
will submit it to the House of Representatives for deliberation.
"The bill is not much different from several laws made thirty
years ago," Bambang Widjojanto, executive director of the
Foundation of Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) said at the
discussion for the draft law.
Bambang said agrarian and mining laws, passed in 1960 and 1967
respectively, give a mandate to the people to exploit the land
and natural resources, but in practice this activity is
monopolized by the government.
"There is no punitive action taken if the government fails to
abide by laws," Bambang said.
Some participants said the bill catered only to industrial-
related problems like pollution, waste disposal, environmental
management and auditing.
"The bill should also include at least precautionary
procedures for the possible dangers resulting from genetic
engineering," Hira Jhamtani, executive director of the National
Consortium for Forest and Nature Conservation in Indonesia
(Konphalindo), told The Jakarta Post.
Law number 5/1994 which ratifies the international Convention
on Biodiversity, is not given enough attention, according to
Hira.
"Just because the dangers are not known does not mean that it
is safe, the hazards of biological engineering may not surface
until a generation or more later when the results may turn out to
be biological pollution," Hira said.
The current law on the environment passed in 1982 is
considered ineffective by many because it regulates a very broad
range of interests.
"It is impossible, however, to dissect it into sections
needing only particular sector coordination," Koesnadi
Hardjasoemantri, one of the authors of the current draft law
said, adding that the bill is an attempt to mend flaws in the
current law and is not a total revision.
The seminar, attended by representatives from seven NGOs,
suggested the law needed to include people's meaningful
participation, people's right to access information, and
establishment of a monitoring agency to monitor environmental
laws.
"Every law has loopholes. I would suggest that boosting the
morality of law enforcers would be better than revising the law,"
said Stefanus Haryanto, a law lecturer at Parahyangan University
in Bandung.
Access
Surna T. Tjajadiningrat, a senior aide to the state minister
for environment, said access to information is fundamental to
increasing public participation.
He said he is exasperated whenever he hears people complain
about the difficulty of attaining information on environmental
issues from government agencies.
"Why do you people like to bang your heads against the wall
when you know that it is ineffective?" Surna said.
Arimbi Heroeputoetri, deputy director of the Indonesian
Environmental Forum (Walhi), called for a transparent, formal,
system enabling people to access information on environmental
matters.
"Access to information is essential to participation," Arimbi
said, adding the draft of the bill could have been distributed to
the public.
Mas Achmad Santosa, executive director of the Indonesian
Center for Environmental Law, said weak enforcement of the
environmental law is mainly caused by a lack of legal
practitioners knowledge about environmental problems.
He proposed establishing environmental divisions in legal
institutions such as specialized judges and prosecutors for
handling environmental lawsuits. (06)