Mon, 04 Aug 2003

Megawati rapped for neglecting environment

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmental experts have criticized President Megawati Soekarnoputri for failing to address serious environmental problems in her annual report to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), saying it reflected the government's lack of concern for the issue.

Megawati did not mention environmental issues in her speech on Friday, in which she focused on the government's efforts to eradicate separatism and terrorism.

"It shows that the government and political parties have no idea about how to address the environmental problems we are facing," former state minister for the environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said on Saturday in Sukabumi, West Java.

He was speaking to The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of an annual gathering of recipients of Sampoerna Foundation scholarships.

Sarwono said the government should not ignore strategic issues such as education, health and the environment.

"The government should inform the public about the latest situation in these sectors, and what it has been doing to improve the situation," he said.

Longgena Ginting, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), concurred with Sarwono.

"Megawati's regime is one that has no clear environmental agenda," he said on Sunday.

Megawati presented her report to MPR members on Friday, claiming successes in the areas of political stability, national security, the drive against terrorism and the economy.

The speech also emphasized the government's determination to wipe out separatism in Aceh, Papua and other troubled areas.

However, the president was low-key on her cabinet's performance in addressing other crucial issues such as corruption, and did not even mention education, health, and the environment.

Indonesia has seen serious environmental destruction as the result of unchecked deforestation and illegal logging in its forests, including protected ones, across the country.

Disasters like landslides, floods, droughts and forest fires are annual problems in the country, all of which are blamed on severe deforestation and illegal logging. These disasters inflict billions of dollars of losses on the country ever year.

In some areas, the disasters have claimed hundreds of lives.

Water and air pollution as well as industrial waste also pose a serious threat to human health due to poor management and control on the part of the authorities.

Ginting urged the government to formulate concrete action to resolve the country's environmental problems.

The Megawati administration should focus on the environment as much as it did on national security so as to prevent further destruction and degradation, he said.

"Otherwise, how will we really be able to escape from the crisis if future development is not sustainable," he said.

Citing an example, Ginting said the government should show its commitment to upholding MPR Decree No. 9/2001 on agrarian reform and natural resources management through the enactment of a law on natural resources management, and the establishment of a body to settle land disputes.

"But what we see on the ground is that the government has done nothing to implement the decree," he said.