Tanjung Pinang Police discover toxic waste
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Tanjung Pinang
Tanjung Pinang police officers on the island of Bintan, near Singapore have discovered thousands of tons of hazardous waste and arrested the regency council speaker over his alleged role in the case, a senior police officer has said.
The senior officer with the National Police headquarters, Insp. Gen. Jonny Yodjana, said the police had conducted chemical tests on the waste allegedly brought from Singapore, and the test results showed that the material was hazardous waste.
It was proven that the material, which has been a toxic dump site since 2001, contained dangerous chemical substances such as mercury and arsenic, that could not easily be converted into non- hazardous material.
The material could cause breathing problems for those who inhale the material for long periods of time. Earthworms and other insects vital to the decomposition of other waste were nowhere to be seen. "Three people have been detained for there alleged roles in dumping the toxic waste," said Jonny without elaborating.
Chief of the Riau Islands police, Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul Alam, said that the case was discovered recently when a subdistrict head in the Teluk Bintan area reported it to police last month.
The police visited the dump, but some of the people involved in managing the dump denied that the material was hazardous waste. They said that the materials would be used to produce compost for natural fertilizer.
"However, after laboratory tests, it was found out that the material was hazardous waste," said Anton.
The police general claimed that most of the material was taken from Singapore by a company called PT Biotech Riau. The company also happens to be owned by the speaker of the Tanjung Pinang legislative council, Bobby Jayanto. The police have detained him along with Ikwat and A Hong, the company's employees, due to the case, said Anton.
The material, which looks like soil, is piled up in an open field some 50 kilometers south of Tanjung Pinang port.
The three people will likely be charged with violating the law on the environment, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.
Separately, Ikwat, the operations manager of PT Biotech Riau, said that the company had a permit from the Riau Islands government in order to bring the material into Indonesian territory. "The chemical substances are materials for producing compost fertilizer," said Ikwat. He said that his company bought it from a Singapore company called Meng Wa.
A similar case also recently surfaced on nearby Galang island. Toxic waste from Singapore was dumped on Galang and remained there until State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar visited the area recently and ordered the waste be re-exported to Singapore.