Industry, officials in bed together while Jakartans choke

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As long as the city administration continues to treat industry as its cash cow, officials will remain blind to environmental damage caused by business, environmental groups say.

Indonesian Center for Environmental Law senior researcher Sukanda Husin told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that environmental regulations were strong enough but the administration lacked the will to enforce them.

Sukanda was speaking after Clean Air is Our Right, a discussion also involving non-government organizations Pelangi, the Asia Foundation, the United States-Asia Environmental Partnership and the United States Agency for International Development.

Environmental Task Force chairman Ahmad Safrudin said the administration and industry colluded at the expense of the public's right to a cleaner environment.

It is common knowledge that companies bribe officials to escape punishment, he said.

The discussion was aimed at finding solutions to numerous loopholes in regulations regarding air pollution control.

Speakers at the discussion implied that the regulations -- among others Law No. 23/1997 on environment management and Governmental Decree No. 41/1999 on air pollution control -- were ineffective, saying air quality in Indonesia had reached disturbing levels.

Jakarta's air quality is considered among the worst in the world, with vehicle emissions contributing about 70 percent of the pollution.

Numerous companies throughout the city pollute the air but few have faced prosecution.

A Jakarta Environmental Management Body official had said earlier that it was having difficulty imposing sanctions or filing lawsuits because of the lack of regulations, staff, time and money.