Investigations into pollution cases move at snail's pace
Investigations into pollution cases move at snail's pace
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
As the Jakarta Police are yet to name any suspects in the
investigation of three major environmental cases since January
this year, the Environmental Preservation organization has called
for immediate action to uphold the environmental law.
"The police seem slow in handling the (environmental) cases,
particularly the oil spill in December in Thousand Islands
waters," the organization's legal officer Sauttua P. Situmorang
told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He cited that while police were yet to complete their
investigation of December's oil spill, another oil spill had
occurred in the same area earlier this month.
The oil spill last year was the first major environmental case
handled by the city police. Detectives took samples of the
polluted water in January and February. They also took oil
samples from a nearby rig belonging to China National Offshore
Oil Corp. (CNOOC) in April.
All the samples were submitted to the National Police
Headquarters forensics laboratory.
However, city police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said the
results were not expected until the end of May.
"We will summon several expert witnesses to analyze the test
results and we hope to come to a conclusion at the end of June,"
he said.
The police have also been investigating their second major
environmental case: the felling of 240 mangrove trees in Angke
protected forest in North Jakarta.
While investigation of the case began in the second week of
April, five weeks have passed and the police are yet to summon
officials from PT Rainbow Cipta Utama advertising agency for
questioning.
It is suspected that the trees were cut down so that
advertising billboards belonging to Rainbow were not obstructed
from view.
The police are also busy with their investigation over
thousands of dead fish found in Jakarta Bay early this month.
However, while the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency
(BPLHD) announced the result of its preliminary analysis of sea
water samples on May 11 -- which claimed that the dead fish were
caused by a natural phenomenon -- the police have only now taken
seawater samples.
They do not expect the result of tests on the samples in the
near future.
The city police special crime division chief Sr. Comr. Edmon
Ilyas denied that his officers had been slow, arguing the
investigation of environmental cases required time and attention
to detail.
"Summoning expert witnesses can be a lengthy task, they are
usually busy people who have tight schedules," he said.