House calls for independent watch body no nuclear power

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives called yesterday for an independent body to be established to supervise the use of nuclear power.

Muhammad Buang of the United Development Party (PPP) faction made the proposal in a meeting of the House Commission IX on science and technology and State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie yesterday.

The government should constitute the body to control nuclear power application, but it should work independently, Buang said.

The proposed body should answer directly to the President, he said.

Habibie welcomed the suggestion, saying the body could resemble the respected National Commission on Human Rights.

The rights body was formed on January 1994, in the face of doubts about its ability to maintain independence when investigating rights violations by powerful bodies such the military.

The commission has received much praise recently for its independence and courage.

Habibie acknowledged that the body must be independent from the agency that manages nuclear power.

"The executive body and the control body should not be manned by the same person," he said.

Nuclear watch bodies in the United States, Germany, France and Japan are independent and work directly under the heads of state, he said.

Yesterday's meeting was called to deliberate the nuclear power bill.

The bill should consider future applications of nuclear technology, including research on health and agriculture, and power generation, said Habibie.

The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), a non- governmental organization opposed to the government's plan to build nuclear power plant, said the bill was mere ploy for the government to finally legitimize the nuclear plant.

The organization said many House members have limited knowledge about nuclear power and they are, therefore, unqualified to deliberate the bill in such a short time.

"The bill should be totally revised," the organization said.

The organization also said that the authority to decide whether or not Indonesia needs a nuclear power plant should not be the government's alone. "The danger of possessing a nuclear power plant and of nuclear waste is so great," the organization cited.

Walhi also criticized the government-sponsored bill because it does not have any provisions about the planned power plant. (05)