Walhi won't file suit against polluters
Walhi won't file suit against polluters
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) says it has no immediate plans to file lawsuits against companies named by the government as the worst industrial polluters, despite offers of assistance from the state.
Walhi, which in the past has represented people in environmental disputes, viewed the environmental rating system used by the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) as so fraught with weaknesses that it might not stand up in court.
"The evaluation and rating program is still in a trial and error phase," Arimbi Heroepoetri, the forum's manager of the environmental law program, told The Jakarta Post.
"Its rating system has yet to be tested in the field," she said, adding that Bapedal has credibility problems.
Bapedal last week announced the names of the five worst industrial polluters. State Minister for Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who also chairs the agency, said that while his office had no plans to prosecute the polluters, Bapedal officers would be prepared to testify for members of the public who decided to take up legal action against the culprits.
Sarwono said Bapedal's latest study could also be used by law enforcement agencies as evidence in court trials.
Bapedal's study rated more than 200 companies according to how they have lived up to their environmental responsibilities. At present, the study was restricted to rating the waste they discharged into rivers.
A gold rating is reserved for the best performers with zero pollution. Not a single company qualified for this. Then followed green, blue, red and black.
Sarwono named the five companies that were rated black, reserved for the worst polluters. They were PT Raja Garuda Mas Panel, a plywood producer in Riau; PT Tirta Mahakam Plywood Industry in East Kalimantan; PT Papyrus Sakti Paper Mill, a paper and pulp producer in West Java; PT Sari Morawa, a paper factory in North Sumatra; and PT Sico, a paint factory in North Sumatra.
None of these companies were available for comment yesterday.
Emmy Hafild, Walhi's special program coordinator, said Bapedal's incidental sampling of a factory's waste water should be complemented with regular sampling in a certain period of time, and input from locals.
People who live near factories along rivers, she said, "know best whether a plant consistently operates its waste water equipment."
"How do we know a plant actually operates its equipment when Bapedal officers are not taking samples?" she said.
"Given its limitations, Bapedal's evaluation program is a good start," Emmy said.
A lawyer at the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute said environmental cases do not stand up in court even with stronger data than Bapedal's evaluations.
"Bapedal's study would not account for anything," said Andik Hardiyanto who heads the Office's division of environment and land disputes.
Walhi's lawsuit against three companies charged of polluting the Surabaya River is supported by a study conducted by government and non-government experts from 1993 to 1995.
The lawsuit filed at the Surabaya District Court in May was rejected in December "on the classic grounds that the environmental law does not have implementation rules," Andik told the Post by telephone.
"We have appealed to the East Java High Court," he said. (anr)