Walhi to sue 10 firms for Riau forest fires
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A leading non-governmental organization is set to file a class action lawsuit against 10 companies in connection with the August forest fires and choking haze in Riau.
"We will sue the companies because they use slash-and-burn techniques to clear land on their concession areas every year," Chalid Muhammad, the chairman of the Indonesia Environment Forum (Walhi), asserted during a press conference on Saturday.
Claiming to represent people who suffered from the forest fires, Walhi is expected to file the lawsuit with the Pekanbaru District Court on Tuesday.
Chalid said Walhi would also report the companies to the National Police Headquarters, the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Forestry and the State Minister for the Environment on Monday.
The choking haze resulting from the forest fires forced the local authorities to close schools and called on residents to limit their activities outside their homes.
The acrid smoke also spread to Malaysia and Singapore. Some Malaysians held a protest outside the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur to express their anger with the forest fires, which have been occurring annually.
The government has promised to prosecute 10 plantation companies, including eight from Malaysia, accused of deliberately setting fires to clear forests to open up forests for oil palm plantations on Sumatra island.
The Office of the State Minister for the Environment is currently investigating the companies, whose names have been withheld. They are facing air pollution charges.
According to the Ministry of Forestry, the eight Malaysian companies control concessions of more than 200,000 hectares of land in Sumatra.
The government has outlawed land clearance by burning, but has usually failed to prosecute or imprison plantation owners and logging firms accused of violating the law.
Officials have repeatedly vowed to bring them to court but no action has been taken.
Environmentalists said the real test would come when the companies were brought before a court of law.