Industries facing punishment for waste pollution

JAKARTA (JP): Two-thirds of 187 manufacturing companies assessed in a recent government survey are inflicting serious pollution on the environment, an official said yesterday.

Surna T. Djajadiningrat, an assistant to the State Minister of Environment said that 61 percent of the private companies surveyed throughout Indonesia had been given a 'red'-category warning for industrial pollution.

Surna said the companies had failed to maximize their efforts to improve their waste treatment systems.

He said three percent of the company's surveyed, who are the worst polluters, had been given a 'black'-category warning. Their operations will be closed down if the company's refuse to improve their waste treatment procedures, he said.

He said the Ministry of Industry and the Capital Market Supervisory Board would take stern measures against polluting companies which failed to improve their waste treatment processes by the end of the year.

Surna made the remarks during a break in a seminar on environmental developments which was sponsored by the Office of the State Minister of Environment in cooperation with Jakarta's Trisakti University.

The two institutions have long cooperated in relational to environmental problems. Trisakti has not only included subjects on the environment in its curricula but has also opened a department of environmental technology.

Surna told the seminar that the most valuable resource in efforts to protect the environment was the educational institution. He urged all educational institutions to conduct research on pollution.

The global transformation being wrought by economic liberalization was very advantageous on one hand, he said, but caused serious problems on the other.

Surna said development caused environmental problems, including soil erosion, pollution, the green house effect and the depletion of the earth's ozone layer.

Problem

Maftuchah Yusuf, a professor of environment at Trisakti University, told the press that the most difficult problem for the university in teaching its students about the environment was training future teachers of the subject.

"Many teachers are not yet ready to teach the new science according to the new syllabus and curriculum," Mrs. Yusuf said.

To meet its demand for teaching staff for its courses on the environment the university had entered into cooperation with the United States Information Service (USIS), which helps send candidates for lectureships to the United States for further education and brings American staff to lecture at Trisakti.

Jajah Koswara, director of research and social services of the Ministry of Education and Culture, said that Indonesia had already had 67 environment study centers, attached to various universities.

She said that in 1992 the directorate general of higher learning had sponsored a new project to develop 18 environment study centers throughout the country.

The purpose of the project was to increase the managerial abilities of the centers, to increase the skill and knowledge of the staff and to develop the science, Mrs. Koswara said.

She said the project also aimed to support the centers in research activities and human resource training.

According to Mrs. Koswara, most environment study centers are active in conducting environmental impact analyses. (05)