RI needs a marine contingency plan
RI needs a marine contingency plan
Adi Lazuardi, Antara News Agency/Sorong
As a maritime nation rich in natural resources, such as oil and
timber, Indonesia should have a national contingency plan to
protect its waters from oil spills due to accidents at sea.
"We are at a loss as to why the draft of the national
contingency plan submitted to the state secretariat has not yet
been endorsed by any president since 1986, whereas in fact such a
plan acts as a legal framework to protect our seas from
pollution," said Director General of Sea Communications Tjuk
Sukardiman on the sidelines of the Marine Pollution Regional
conference being held in Sorong from June 14 to June 16.
As a result, whenever an oil spill occurs in our territory or
waters bordering neighboring states, related authorities usually
take a wait and see stance and point at each other to clean up
the mess. Other countries have often taken advantage of such a
situation such as Singapore, which has enacted such a policy.
Since the draft is still pending, many circles are skeptical
that bribery is involved to prevent such a policy from being
enacted as a legal framework to take quick actions to safeguard
and protect Indonesian waters.
An example of the consequences of not having a contingency
policy is the sinking of the MV Natuna Sea and MV Hyundai, which
sank in 2001 and 2004 respectively.
Chief of the Marine and Coastal Security Unit (KPLP or
equivalent to a coast guard), Soeharto, related the experience of
the sinking of the MV Natuna Sea in Batu Berenti, in the Batam
island chain, the Strait of Malacca, which spilled its oil load
into Indonesian waters.
The strait is protected by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore,
but the Singaporean Coast Guard was quick to react to the
incident by tugging the ship into its waters to probe and try the
case.
"Singapore received millions of U.S. dollars from the
insurance firm for the incident, while Indonesia was left with
only the oil spill," said Soeharto.
He cited another ship collision in the Malacca Strait in which
the MV Hyundai was transporting hundreds of Hyundai cars.
The ship sank along with its shipment of cars, but fuel in the
ship was still intact and had not polluted the sea. The Singapore
Coast Guard again stepped in quickly by siphoning the fuel
completely from the ship and sold it to the international market.
"That's the consequence we have to face if Indonesia has no
such contingency plan," he said.
Tjuk Sukardiman is convinced that such a policy is very
crucial and expressed confidence that the legal framework for
national maritime contingency plan would be issued this year.
"We intend it to be issued this year due to its urgency," said
Tjuk.
He added that the Directorate General of Sea Communications
and the Ministry of Environment would make serious efforts to
accomplish their goal by acquiring the President's endorsement
this year.
The commander of the Philippine Coast Guard, Padama, indicated
that the Philippines had long had such a policy because it was
aware that as a maritime nation its territory was extensively
traversed by foreign tankers.
"We do not only have a national contingency plan, but a number
of cities like Manila feels the need for a local contingency plan
to protect its waters from pollution and to support the city as
an international tourist destination," said Padama.
Due to this, the Philippine Coast Guard's fleet of 50 patrol
vessels is larger compared to Indonesia which has only three of
the nine required patrol vessels.