Environment office seeks more power

Environment office seeks more power

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government plans to revise the Environment Law to give the
authorities more power to go after polluters, an official said on
Wednesday.

The deputy for environmental compliance at the Office of the
State Minister for the Environment, Hoetomo, discussed the plan
to revise Law No. 23/1997 on the environment after officiating a
public discussion on the issue.

"The quality of our environment is deteriorating," he said.
"That is why, through the revision, we want to give our civil
investigators the same authority as investigators in the customs
and excise office and the forestry ministry -- the authority to
arrest and confiscate the assets of individuals or institutions
that commit crimes against the environment."

Under the planned revision, the environment ministry would
have the authority to seize the assets of companies guilty of
pollution.

"With this power, we could halt the operations of a company
that is suspected of polluting the country without waiting for
approval from other agencies," said Hoetomo, adding that the
revised law was expected to be submitted to the House of
Representatives in February.

A professor of environmental law, Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri,
who also advised the government team drafting the revised law,
said the revisions would include minimum penalties for violators.

"The present law only stipulates maximum penalties, allowing
environmental criminals to get off with light penalties," he
said.

The proposed revisions have been greeted with caution in some
quarters. An official at the industry ministry told The Jakarta
Post any additional powers given to the environment ministry
should not frighten off investors.

"We should not pass regulations that frighten investors, since
we desperately need them," said the official, who asked not to be
identified.

The deputy director of the Indonesian Forum for the
Environment, Ridha Saleh, also criticized the planned revisions
because they failed to protect communities that suffered as a
result of environmental crimes. "The government's version of the
revised law does not clearly define what constitutes an
environmental crime or the rights of the victims," he told the
Post.