Unprofessional decision

The recent statement by the state minister of environment on the plan to close PT Inti Indorayon Utama, a pulp and paper company in North Sumatra, is considered a bias and unprofessional decision. The House of Representatives agreed to the plan to close the Medan-based factory, decreed by State Minister of Environment Panangian Siregar in a House hearing on June 15, 1998.

One cannot say that pulp and paper companies have succeeded in being kind to the environment. Environmentalists would agree with that.

Despite the fact that Panangian Siregar is not regarded by the public as an environmental specialist like his predecessors, this Indonesian Democratic Party man may have compiled a list of offenses by the company.

An objective point of view surely would mean the obligatory closure of the company. If stress is put on production impact, then PT Inti Indorayon Utama has certainly caused environmental damage to its surroundings, such as people in the area coming down with infection and skin ailments.

Chemicals are widely used by pulp and paper companies. If that is the case, why not be consistent and close other pulp and paper companies throughout the country, for none of them have a clean record of pollution prevention.

Keeping in mind that the pulp and paper industry, or other industries for that matter, cannot limit its waste to zero, sustainable development research in the environmental sector finds that waste minimization in factories is the most appropriate alternative. It is no longer a case of how to eliminate factory waste, but of how to reduce it to a minimum.

MOHAMMAD RIZKY SASONO

Jakarta