Walhi proposes tax on industrial polluters

Walhi proposes tax on industrial polluters

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) has
proposed that Indonesia introduce a law forcing polluters to pay
an environmental tax.

Forum executive director Emmy Hafild said Wednesday night the
state could use the money from the tax to fund conservation
programs.

She said that many companies recently listed as Indonesia's
largest taxpayers could be the target of the proposed tax.

"PT Freeport Indonesia, for instance, could have paid more tax
because its operations involve high social costs and cause great
environmental damage," she said.

PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of Freeport McMoran Copper
and Gold Inc. of New Orleans, topped the list of corporate
taxpayers last year.

She cited how the American-Indonesia joint venture gold and
copper mining company's operations in Irian Jaya have affected
indigenous tribsepeople there.

On Jan. 25, 300 Kamoro tribespeople in Timika lodged a
complaint with PT Freeport which, they claimed, has dumped toxic
chemical waste into nearby rivers.

"This is not fair for the people who have to pay the social
and environmental price of the damage. They have lost the source
of their livelihood and been exposed to the danger of the toxic
waste dumped in their neighborhoods," she said.

Emmy said the money collected through the environmental tax
could be channeled to bodies such as the Environmental Impact
Management Agency to help bolster its resources.

An environmental tax is imposed on industrial companies in
countries like the U.S. There the funds are channeled to the
influential Environment Protection Agency to restore the
environment damaged by the companies.

"According to Indonesia's Constitution, Article 33, the
country's natural wealth should be managed by the state in the
best interests of all people's welfare," she said.

Referring again to the Kamoro people's protest, Emmy said that
although it was signed by "only" 300 residents, it should be
considered serious.

In their letter to PT Freeport Indonesia, a copy of which was
made available to The Jakarta Post, the Kamoro people strongly
rejected Freeport's plan to make their ancestral land a dump for
the company's industrial waste.

"It is for this sort of environmental and social damage that a
company should be required to pay," Emmy said. (08)