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)