Walhi sues president over failed project

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) has filed a lawsuit against President B.J. Habibie over a failed government project to develop one million hectares of peat land in Central Kalimantan.

In a statement following Monday's filed suit at the Central Jakarta District Court, Walhi said it named as co-defendants nine Cabinet ministers in Habibie's government, six director generals of institutions involved in the project and Central Kalimantan Governor Warsito Rasman.

The trial is expected to start early September.

A Walhi activist, Longgena Ginting, said the suit was meant to help push for good governance here. "The government should be more transparent with its policies, especially those regarding large-scale projects," Ginting said.

The environmental law coordinator of Walhi, Julia Kalmirah, said the peat land project caused a "large-scale environmental and social disaster in one single place".

Kalmirah said the suit did not specify the amount of compensation demanded from the defendants. "We only demand that the government take measures to deal with it," she said.

Asked why Walhi filed the suit against Habibie when the project was started under the rule of former president Soeharto, Kalmirah told AFP: "We are suing the institution (of the presidency), because the project was implemented under a presidential decree."

Kalmirah said the peat bog project, implemented under a 1996 presidential decree issued by Soeharto, was ill-conceived.

It also represented a significant abuse of power by Soeharto, she said.

The project, aimed at transforming unproductive peat land into rice fields and a housing complex, turned out to be one of the worst ecological disasters of the 20th century, she said.

It was implemented without good planning, was rife with corruption and nepotism and so far wasted Rp 2 trillion (US$260 million), she said. (05)