Five firms in West Java sued for polluting

Five firms in West Java sued for polluting

JAKARTA (JP): The North Jakarta District Court began hearing a
lawsuit yesterday filed by 5,000 residents of Serang, West Java,
against five factories on charges of polluting a river.

The companies, PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, PT Cipta Paperia,
PT Onward Paper Utama, PT Sekawan Maju Pesat and PT Picon Jaya,
have allegedly polluted the Ciujung river.

The residents, represented by 17 people in the lawsuit, are
seeking a court order which will force the five companies to
conduct an environmental audit, as required by a 1991 law on the
environment.

They are also seeking Rp 5 billion (US$2.2 million) in damages
for immaterial losses resulting from "being deprived of the right
to live in a clean and healthy environment" and Rp 22 billion for
material losses in the form of lost income and extra expenses
incurred for the acquisition of clean water.

They also asked the court to order the West Java
Administration to establish an environmental monitoring team in
the Serang regency, comprising representatives from the local
administration, non-governmental organizations, local public
figures and the companies.

They said in the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 14, that the pollution
has worsened over a period of time and that they have tried to
settle the dispute out of court, but to no avail.

The plaintiffs, who were represented by lawyers from the
Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Legal Institute, submitted as
evidence a 1993 study on pollution along 15 kilometers of the
Ciujung river conducted by the Center for Fisheries Research and
Development of the Ministry of Agriculture. The research found
that the river became heavily polluted after the establishment of
the five companies in 1992. (imn)