Minister says government to get tougher on polluters

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent loss in court to the United States-based mining giant PT Newmont Minahasa Raya over the alleged damage to the environment caused by the firm has not stopped the government from bringing companies to justice for polluting the environment.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said on Tuesday his office was currently preparing civil suits against five local firms, namely, two paper manufacturers, two steel companies and a textile company, all of which are located in Java.

The companies are among 14 firms that received the black label in three consecutive environmental audits in 2002, 2003 and 2004 for polluting the environment.

"Despite the black label, the five companies have not shown any intention of proving their commitment to preserving the environment," Rachmat said after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The other nine black label recipients have tried to improve their waste management, Rachmat added.

He said his office's legal division was currently completing case files to be submitted to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution.

"We don't want to mess with them. This shall be seen as a move to protect the environment and the people," he said.

Although its results are announced publicly, the annual environmental audit has been unable to make companies comply with the government's environment protection standard.

The latest audit revealed that of 470 companies examined, none of them received gold labels, or an excellent rating, with only 23 firms granted second to best green labels. A total of 72 companies received black labels for causing pollution.

Earlier Rachmat said his office was preparing an amendment to Law No. 23/1997 on environmental management so as to enable the government to arrest ordinary people or corporate executives held responsible for environmental damage.

"At present, we feel that the procedure to punish those who destroy the environment is too lengthy. Moreover, the law is no longer sufficient as a deterrent for more sophisticated environmental crimes," Rachmat said during a visit to Pekanbaru, Riau on Monday.

Article 40 of the law stipulates that civilian investigators can only conduct a probe into crimes against the environment. They hand over the cases to the police, who will make an arrest if necessary and file lawsuits with the Attorney General's Office.

"That's why we need to provide our civilian investigators with the authority to arrest people and confiscate evidence," Rachmat said.

Some of the state budget allocated for his office in the next fiscal year will be spent on improving the quality of the investigators and recruiting more.

The office employs 180 civilian investigators, far from the minimum requirement of two in each of the 440 regencies and municipalities across the country.

Rachmat said the revised law would help the government protect the environment.

"Many environmentalists criticize my office which they say toothless in the face of those who destroy the environment," he said.