Government urged to cancel debate on natural resources bills

JAKARTA (JP): A coalition of 125 nongovernmental organizations, including the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), urged on Monday the government and the House of Representatives cancel debates on the oil and gas bill and the forestry bill.

They also called on the House to send the two bills back to the government, urging them to draft a new bill on the management of all kinds of natural resources to replace the two bills.

It was better to have one law covering all natural resources, rather than having two different laws on hydrocarbon resources and forestry, they said.

Walhi's coordinator for forestry advocacy Longgena Ginting predicted the oil and gas bill, currently being debated by House members, and the forestry bill, that would be deliberated starting this week, would fail to protect the country's natural resources.

"Most of the bills' articles demonstrate a spirit to maximally exploit the country's natural resources and the government's will to dominate the people.

"The two bills also neglect the rights of local communities and the environment. There are no substantial reforms in the country's natural resources management of the two bills," he said.

Longgena said a law on the management of all natural resources should become an umbrella for all government policies on a variety of natural resources, including forest, water and minerals.

"For three decades, the government managed each type of natural resources differently, because there was no legal basis for them to be integrated.

"Such practices have sparked social conflict among local people, the government and the private sectors," he said.

On Monday morning, activists staged demonstrations at the House building and in front of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantation's office.

In a statement read out before the House Commission III for agriculture and forestry and food affairs, the activists said debating the bills in extremely tight schedules would prompt legislators to overlook limitations in the bills.

The coalition urged the House to allow the new House members elected during the June 7 general election do the job. The new legislators will start their terms in September.

"The capacity and time of current House members to deliberate the bills is very limited. We doubt the results will support the reform (movement). It will be pro status quo," said Arti D. Adji, a representative of the coalition.

Several analysts, former ministers and forest concessionaires have also called for a delay in the deliberation of the forestry and oil and gas bills.

Chairman of the House Commission III Umbu Mehang Kunda said the House could not accept the activists' demand.

"But House members promise to take input from any parties in deliberating the bills," he said.(gis)