Walhi seeks environmental tribunal

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) urged the government on Sunday to set up an environment tribunal to deal with environmental destruction.

"It (the environment tribunal) cannot be postponed," Walhi activist Harun said here on Sunday.

The idea of setting up an environment tribunal was initially brought up by State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim last year in reaction to the disappointing legal process against perpetrators of environmental damage.

During a workshop on the formation of an environment tribunal in Jakarta on Oct. 10 last year, Makarim said many environmental cases brought to the general court had not been satisfactorily settled.

Harun said the absence of strict legal measures was to blame for the environmental destruction during the past two decades. -- Antara