Environmentalists 'unimpressive' by SBY's efforts

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmentalists urged on Sunday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono take environmental issues more seriously by introducing a ministry that focuses on natural resources management.

In an evaluation of Susilo's first year in power, Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive director Chalid Muhammad said the ministry would help the government prevent further destruction of the country's natural resources.

"Nothing much has happened during the first year of the Susilo-Jusuf Kalla administration. Illegal logging is still rampant, while the Buyat case remains unaddressed," he said.

In the aforementioned case, a top executive of U.S. mining firm arm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in North Sulawesi is standing trial for the firm's alleged pollution of Buyat Bay.

Chalid suggested that the President not only replace incapable ministers in the upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, but also change the structure of the Cabinet.

"There should be no separate state minister of the environment office, ministry of energy and mineral resources nor ministry of agriculture," he said. "He needs a ministry of natural assets and environmental management."

The office of the state minister of the environment, Chalid said, was unable to prevent environmental destruction because companies blamed for the damage would only want to deal with economic ministries.

"What can the state minister of the environment do now? The minister should have encouraged other ministers to formulate policies that are environmentally friendly," Chalid said.

Meanwhile, an activist from Bogor-based Telapak, which revealed the world's biggest timber smuggling racket from Papua to China and India in February, urged the President to take the lead in the eradication of crimes against the environment for the sake of the country's rich natural resources.

"A new ministry seems unnecessary. What we need is for the President to take command in the eradication of environmental crimes, such as illegal logging, instead of delegating it to his ministers," Telapak's forest conservation campaigner Yayat Afianto said.

He said the administration had shown a lot of improvement in dealing with environmental issues compared to previous governments.

Citing one example, he praised the government's move to send about 1,500 military and police officers to Papua to arrest the alleged perpetrators of illegal logging in the province, code-named the Hutan Lestari II Operation, earlier this year.

"But that's not enough. Up to now, none of the suspects have been convicted. That makes us very disappointed," Yayat said.

He suggested that, in the remaining four years of his administration, the President should make every effort to hunt down the masterminds of illegal logging, regardless of whether they were high-ranking military or police officers.

"The key is law enforcement. As a retired general himself, the President has to prove that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law," Yayat said.