More 'green' carrots than stick in 1995

More 'green' carrots than stick in 1995

By Ati Nurbaiti

JAKARTA (JP): The environmental conservation campaign saw a more mundane government approach in 1995 and a more aggressive drive by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Indonesia.

There were hardly any significant new environmental regulations introduced and disappointingly few environmental court cases prosecuted during the 12 months, as the government appeared to resort more to using the carrot than the stick.

It was left to the NGOs to seize the initiative to pursue the campaign with vigor, exposing and prosecuting alleged culprits.

The year 1995 saw the withdrawal of the National Commission on Human Rights from dealing with environmental issues because it was overwhelmed with more politically-charged human rights issues. Previously, people whose lives had been affected by the construction of high-voltage power lines above their homes, had found sympathetic ears in the commission.

With the government taking a more passive stand and the police and state prosecutors still learning to master environmental laws and regulations, the NGOs are about the only forums people could turn to when they feel their lives are being affected by environmental degradation.

Among the most prominent NGOs in highlighting environmental cases this year were the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law.

The government has come to recognize the role that these NGOs play, given their ability to translate, articulate and communicate the concerns of the ordinary people they represent in environmental cases and other cases for that matter.

Such acceptance of the NGO's roles is not without reservation. The government is still wary and suspicions of possible political motives on the part of the NGOs. At lower levels of government, this means a security eye on anyone involved, either the villagers making the complaints, or the NGO activists working with them.

The role of the courts of law this year was limited when it came to environmental protection. And the few cases that reached courts should also be analyzed with caution.

Take the case of the lawsuit filed by PT Samudra Farmindo Luas at the North Jakarta District Court last August against five companies -- PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, PT Onward Paper Utama, PT Cipta Paperia, PT Sekawan Maju Pesat and PT Picon Jaya -- for allegedly polluting the Ciujung River in Serang, West Java.

The plaintiff, Samudra's president, Iskandar Alisyahbana, disclosed that he had been offered the chance to bribe the judge to secure an early judgment in his favor.

He refused, and the case is now still being tried. The incident serves as a reminder to everyone concerned to be critical in looking at environmental lawsuits.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who is leading the government's environmental conservation drive, knows that the odds are heavily stacked against him: Distrust of the courts, ignorance and a low level of environmental awareness, translating "sustainable development" into supportive policies among other government agencies and changing people's habits are just a few of the challenges he is facing.

"It may take several generations," Sarwono concedes.

The minister has also been cautious in his approach to industrialists, a powerful political lobby and the biggest culprits when it comes to environmental degradation.

Rather than threatening them with prosecution or public exposure, he has been hammering home the message that it is in their own self interest to fall in line quickly if they want to survive the stiff competition in their export markets.

The global market will not wait very long for them to keep up with clean production standards, he said. "It's really up to you whether you want to meet these standards," Sarwono said.

Ecolobeling

Industrialists must catch up with the environmental-conscious consumers, particularly in their export markets, where compliance with minimum environmental standards, or ecolabeling, as it is now called, is of utmost importance.

Sarwono said the government's environmental campaign approach stresses self-regulation rather than imposition of regulations. "A legal approach is important, but it isn't enough," he said.

Sarwono's office this year finally launched the long-awaited program of rating companies based on their performance in conserving the environment in their surroundings. So far, however, he has only announced the "good guys" and awarded them accordingly as a kind of incentive for others to follow suit.

Sometime next year he hopes to expose the "bad guys".

The rating system assigned five different colors to each company assessed, from gold for the best performers, to black for worst offenders. None of the more than 100 companies assessed for the rating system this year qualified for gold, a color reserved for those considered to have installed air pollution control, waste water recycling and clean production technology.

But five won the green rating, the next best to gold, for their efforts in improving the quality of their waste water. They are PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, PT Pindad, the state arms manufacturer in Bandung, West Java, PT Tifico and PT Kumafiber, both textile producers in Tangerang, and PT Cheil Samsung Astra, which produces monosodium glutamate in Pasuruan, East Java.

Sarwono announced that 61 companies got the blue rating, 115 red and six black. But he has refrained from going public with their names.

For the coming year, the Agency for Environmental Impact Analysis and Management (Bapedal), which is chaired by Sarwono, is studying 231 companies for its rating system.

With the increasing load of work, this agency is now increasingly feeling the need to expand its staff. It currently has 10 experts, hardly sufficient to run the rating program.

Bapedal's credibility came into question last month when a food seasoning factory in East Java became the target of a riot by a group of farmers who accused it of polluting the Rejoso River and affecting their shrimp ponds.

The company in question, PT Cheil Samsung Astra, which is a South Korean joint venture, was one of the five firms rated "green" in June.

Later investigations by Bapedal determined that the pollution did not originate from Cheil Samsung Astra.

"I will not withdraw the green rating," Sarwono said when commenting about the incident.

But the rating system has not impressed PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, one of the five companies rated green.

In a discussion at the Kompas daily, Indah Kiat director Njauw Kwet Meen, said it has not made one little bit of difference to the company's stock prices.

He said he had hoped for a better image, and better sales following the announcement, but neither has happened yet.

So far the rating system program has been limited to companies that discharge their waste into rivers. Bapedal already has grand designs to expand the rating, to include real estate developments and hotels.

Real estate developments were among the first targets of the government's environmental campaign this year when President Soeharto, at the urging of Sarwono, gave the green light to the authorities in Bandung, West Java, to punish developers, most of whom had strong political backing, for building houses in water catchment areas.

Early this month, President Soeharto also warned mining concerns that the government would not hesitate to move against them if their operations turned out to threaten the environment.

He made this remark when inaugurating a new town built by PT Freeport Indonesia, a giant American gold and mining company, near its concession in Irian Jaya.

Freeport, which has been at the center of one or two environmental disputes, was later commended by President Soeharto for investing heavily in an expensive special laboratory to monitor the environmental impact of its operation.