Environmentalists 'unimpressive' by SBY's efforts

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.