Minister proposes environmental tax

JAKARTA (JP): Minister for Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave proposed yesterday the idea of imposing an environmental tax, beginning with the tourist industry.

The minister, however, did not elaborate on how the proposed tax, long overdue according to environmental activists, would be implemented.

The tax is expected to enhance the government's income from taxes that could be used to rectify damage caused by industry activities.

Speaking on the opening day of a three-day symposium on Indonesian Tourism and Marine Ecology, Joop said that the tourist industry is partly responsible for the increasing environmental damage.

"It's deplorable how the tourist industry has turned parasite to sources that are at the heart of its survival," Joop told reporters after delivering his address.

Joop tossed out the idea of promoting tourism by hosting an international summit on marine tourism by the year 2000.

State Minister for the Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who officiated the symposium, lamented the public's ignorance of the wealth contained in Indonesia's waters.

"As the largest archipelagic country in the world, Indonesia's marine potential has not been fully utilized by its owners but exploited by others who have left only 7 percent of our coral reefs in good condition," Sarwono said.

In raising public awareness of Indonesia's marine world, Sarwono said, agencies need to focus on the sustainable development principles that emphasize the protection of marine biodiversity.

Sarwono suggested three basic principles should be adopted to promote ecotourism: drafting a zoning utilization where the number of visitors to a site is limited, rotating the opening of sites to allow them to recover and earmarking highly priced tourist sites for international tourists.

Also speaking at the seminar was Emil Salim, a former minister for the environment who said that Indonesia has many regulations that were introduced to prevent any of the aforementioned problems occurring.

"We are known as a soft country that doesn't enforce laws.

"We have much homework to do, such as actually implementing regulations so that we are not seen as only being good at talking," he said.

Wuryastuti Sunario, Managing Director of the Indonesian Tourism Promotion Board, said the symposium would discuss economic tasks facing the Indonesian tourist industry and the preservation of Indonesia's maritime heritage.

"Hopefully this symposium will bring about concrete action for managing sustainable marine tourism with environmental conservation as well as business prospect," she said. (14)