Surabaya court rejects Walhi suit

Surabaya court rejects Walhi suit

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya

The Surabaya District Court rejected on Monday a lawsuit filed by
the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) that the court
take stern measures against three companies for polluting the
Surabaya River.

Presiding judge Ida Setiawati Tjandra turned down the suit on
the grounds that the environmental group had failed to prove its
credibility and thus justify the legality of its suit.

She pointed out further that Walhi did not provide any
evidence at court to show it had executed concrete programs to
prevent pollution of the river; neither had it carried out
surveys or other research indicating empirically that the three
companies had polluted the river.

Walhi lawyer Susilaningtyas lashed out at the verdict after
the hearing, saying it was baseless. She said Walhi was a
credible institution and had won public recognition as a noted
environmental group.

She also said Walhi had conducted environmental surveys on the
Surabaya River, such as its River Cruise program that monitored
the river and raised public awareness on its pollution levels.

She said the group had presented strong evidence to support
its lawsuit, showing that the Surabaya River had been heavily
polluted by the three companies.

Walhi's evidence included data indicating that the three
companies had violated the East Java Gubernatorial Decree 1997 on
pollution threshold in the Surabaya River. The decree limits
waste released into the river to a maximum biological oxygen
demand (BOD) of less than 30 milligrams per liter and a maximum
chemical oxygen demand (COD) of less than 80 mg/l.

Walhi found that one of the three companies had released waste
with a BOD level of between 416 to 1,435 mg/l, in gross excess of
the decreed limit. It had also released waste with a COD level of
between 954 and 3,302 mg/l.

Susilaningtyas said Walhi would appeal the verdict.