Former minister Emil Salim, a champion of the environment
Former minister Emil Salim, a champion of the environment
Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta
Presidents come and presidents go but the work of Professor
Emil Salim will go on forever. The 70-year-old former state
minister for population and environment left Soeharto's
government in 1993 but he is still on his toes trying to find
ways to make ecology and economy compliment each other.
He dreams of the day when industry will be agro-based, tourism
will enrich the ecology and the harvest of development will
benefit the maximum number of people, instead of just a small
minority.
He gives the example of a rainforest where life is rich only
because every creature, from the tiniest to the mightiest,
depends for its survival upon each other. He terms diversity as
the strength of the ecological system, adding that this is true
of human society as well.
"The more diverse a society is, the stronger it is. It is very
important to recognize diversity and the inter-dependency of each
one of us on the other," the bird-like Professor told The Jakarta
Post before flying off to Brazil for yet another meeting on
sustainable development.
As the spirit behind the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation
and the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute, Salim is trying to get
countries rich in rainforests like Indonesia, Brazil and Zaire to
come together under the umbrella of an international organization
similar to OPEC.
Out of the "Unity in diversity" slogan coined by the country's
founding fathers, unity is stressed all the time but the benefits
of diversity are still to be recognized here, he says, adding
that he likes the idea of a thousand flowers always in bloom,
everywhere.
The most pertinent question before Indonesians today is how to
live peacefully with each other in diversity? A homogenized world
is a colorless one as far as Salim is concerned, because
different languages, food and clothes make life not just
interesting but also give strength to a society.
As a champion of the environment, he is not against
development. It is possible to be prosperous without damaging the
environment. He is saddened to watch the destruction of the
environment when there is no need for such thoughtless cruelty.
This is happening as the greed of ignorant people is being
allowed to walk all over the basic needs of the world.
He is against an export-based economy where a country is
stripped of all its wealth in raw materials. Instead of logging
the forest and selling wood he would like to see medicine made
from the bark of the relevant tree and exported.
"Make cosmetics out of fish oil and sell the finished product
instead of emptying the waters of all the fish, " he explains.
Nearly four decades ago when most other developing countries
like India, Iran and Turkey were into heavy industries, Indonesia
decided to modernize its agriculture.
The country was self sufficient in rice by 1983 and only then
opened its economy to industry. At that time, policy-makers like
Emil Salim were determined not to repeat the mistakes made by
countries that had industrialized.
Despite lessons in pollution control, Indonesia's population
and consumption are increasing, deforestation is rapid and fresh
water supplies are continuing to diminish.
Indonesia is a country rich in biodiversity with 10 percent of
the world's flowering species, 12 percent of all mammal species
and about 47 distinct ecosystems. But today, the country has the
longest list of endangered flora and fauna species and is facing
a serious depletion of its biodiversity, due to the
overexploitation of natural resources and inappropriate
agricultural policies.
When asked how the country got into this mess, Salim, the
environment minister between 1978 and 1993, points out that the
environment is still treated as an ad hoc issue both by national,
as well as international financial institutions.
Open market moguls and politicians on the lookout for quick
returns consider fresh air, beautiful landscape and thick forests
as free commodities, which belong to no one and are therefore
worthless. There is no immediate profit in taking care of the
environment.
So forests have vanished at an estimated rate of three million
hectares a year, the highest deforestation rate in the world. Air
pollution caused by automobiles continue to emit lead pollution
at 1.3 micrograms per cubic meter in Jakarta, above the World
Health Organization's (WHO) limit of between 0.5 and 1.0
micrograms per cubic meter.
Water pollution is yet another serious problem as the South
China Sea is one of the world's busiest international sea-lanes
with more than half of the world's supertanker traffic passing
through the region's waters. Industry has polluted water and,
together with the increase in population and decrease in fresh
water supplies, has placed great stress on people and the
environment.
The main constraint in the implementation of sustainable
development in Indonesia has always been the lack of
accountability and good governance. So much forest is felled and
intentionally set on fire, yet nobody is held responsible.
Even timber tycoon Bob Hasan was not jailed for destroying the
forest, but for other crimes he committed. What the people in
power must do is enforce the rule of law. The existing laws are
very sound but they have to be implemented. Otherwise, Salim
says, environmental concerns will continue to be treated merely
as jargon.
Salim suggests a more holistic approach to policy-making where
no ministry is considered more powerful than the other and the
opinion of civilians and non-governmental organizations are
included in the decision-making process.
Salim was selected by former president Soeharto as an advisor
in the 1960s, along with a group of mostly American educated
technocrats, dubbed "the Berkeley mafia". He fell out with
Soeharto in 1993 when the more high-tech ideas and macro approach
of B.J. Habibie was favored over the bio, and agro-based, micro-
level concerns of Salim.