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)