Govt commitment urged for pollution control

Govt commitment urged for pollution control

JAKARTA (JP): Environmentalists urged the government
yesterday to put into practice their political commitment to
control industrial pollution.

Senior activists from the Indonesian Forum for Environment
(Walhi) and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL)
accused the government of not taking environmental disputes
seriously enough.

In their joint statement, Walhi and ICEL said the government's
determination to combat environmental problems would remain
ineffective unless it made drastic changes.

"So far,the government does not seem to consider industrial
pollution serious," Emmy Hafild, Walhi's executive director said.

The government program for pollution control, Proper Prokasih,
evaluates and rates the quality of waste water discharged from
factories into rivers. Conducted by the Environmental Impact
Management Agency (Bapedal), the scheme is not considered
effective.

"The program does not benefit anyone. It's not even effective
as a persuasive approach, except for publicity," Andik Hardianto,
from Walhi, said.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said the
rating could not be used as a legal instrument for suing
polluters because it served only to inform and assist affected
people take legal action.

Mas Achmad Santosa, ICEL's executive director, said industry's
low compliance could not solely be blamed on a lack of government
legal awareness.

"Unfortunately, many of us have become skeptical about the
legal system's independence, integrity and innovation.
Environmental cases on trial have often been dismissed due to the
lack of legislation," Achmad said.

Strictly enforcing environmental law would greatly benefit the
people but would deter the foreign investors wanting to invest in
"dirty industry".

"Those dirty industries are relocated to developing countries
that do not strictly enforce environmental regulations," Emmy
said.

Between 1992 and 1996, 65 percent of all industries in
Indonesia were potentially polluting to the environment, such as
the chemical industry, the textile industry, and the pulp and
paper industry, according to Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM)
statistics, said Emmy.

The activists said as a government environmental watchdog,
Bapedal was a toothless tiger because it could take neither legal
nor punitive action against polluters.

The activists also called for greater public access to
information lest the government program to tackle polluters was
rendered ineffective.

Bapedal has refused requests from environmental NGO's to share
information about companies' performances saying the information
was confidential, they said. (06)