The
High Court of Palembang announced a ruling on August 12 which overturned the
decision of the District Court of Palembang from the end of December last year.
The previous ruling had found in favor of PT Bumi Mekar Hijau (BMH) in a civil
suit in which it was sued for IDR 7.98 trillion (the equivalent of USD 614.35
million at the approximate current exchange rate of IDR 13,000) by the
Indonesian Minister of the Environment and Forestry.
This decision by the high court
comes after the Environment and Forestry Minister appealed the lower court’s
ruling. The new ruling states that PT BMH did indeed commit an unlawful act
with respect to the peat fires that occurred in its concession in 2014.
However, the high court decision
has resulted in a lesser punishment than that originally demanded, ordering PT
BMH to pay just IDR 78.5 billion in compensation (the equivalent of USD 6.04
million at the approximate current exchange rate of IDR 13,000).
Based on a number of legal
documents submitted to the Environment and Forestry Ministry by PT BMH itself,
which were later validated by the ministry, the company is a subsidiary of the
Sinarmas Forestry group. PT BMH is actually one of several pulpwood plantation
companies operating in South Sumatra that fall under the umbrella of Sinarmas
Forestry.
“At the very least, the decision
of the Palembang High Court is appreciated because it declares that PT BMH did
commit an unlawful act related to forest fires," said Hadi Jatmiko,
Executive Director of WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) South Sumatra, in
a press release received by foresthints.news.
At the same time, however, WALHI
also expressed its disappointment with the high court ruling in that PT BMH has
been ordered to compensate only about 1 percent of the total amount for which
it was originally sued by the minister.
Hadi lamented that this slap on
the wrist in the form of a relatively small fine would not make other companies
wary of perpetrating similarly illegal acts. “In our opinion, the high court
decision is insufficient in acting as a deterrent.”
In light of this, WALHI is urging
the minister to impose administrative sanctions on the Sinarmas Forestry
company, specifically by revoking its permit. WALHI feels that such a
punishment is justified, given that in 2014 and 2015 peat fires in the PT BMH
concession destroyed as much as 160,000 hectares, more than twice the size of
Singapore.
Last year, PT BMH continued to
contribute to the vast haze that enshrouded the region as a result of peat
fires in its concession located in the regency of Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) in
South Sumatra province.
Due to these peat fires in its
concession, the minister suspended the operating permit of PT BMH. This
decision seemed justified in light of a report by Greenomics Indonesia which
laid bare the sheer magnitude of the 2015 peat fires in this concession.
The facts indicate that Sinarmas
Forestry companies operating in South Sumatra were among the most significant
contributors to last year’s haze. In an effort to tackle this problem, in early
January this year President Joko Widodo designated the South Sumatra regencies
of OKI and Musi Banyuasin as two of the four priority regencies in terms of
peat restoration in the wake of the 2015 peat fires.
Of the Sinarmas Forestry
companies which contributed to the terrible haze last year, the majority are
situated in peatlands, including in peat domes, scattered among the two peat
restoration priority regencies of OKI and Musi Banyuasin. These companies are
suppliers of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).
This is especially relevant
seeing that APP's new mill, which is located in OKI regency and expected to
begin operating by the end of this year, will rely heavily on raw materials in
the form of pulpwood plantation fiber from Sinarmas Forestry companies
operating in the two peat restoration priority regencies concerned. These
companies, it should be reiterated, were among the greatest culprits for 2015’s
suffocating haze.
The evidence for this is made quite
clear by data released by the Indonesian government and several NGOs. This data
shows that hundreds of thousands of hectares of pulpwood plantations controlled
by Sinarmas Forestry companies were burned last year.
The Indonesian Peat Restoration
Agency Chief, Nazir Foead, told foresthints.news on Friday (Aug 26) that
President Joko Widodo, in a closed door meeting with a number of ministers and
ministerial-level officials (Aug 12), reinstructed that management of burned
areas be taken over by the state.
World Bank calculations indicate
that losses caused by the forest and land fires, and in particular peat fires,
of 2015 amounted to USD 16.1 billion. Such an amount unquestionably had an
adverse effect on Indonesia’s economic growth last year. In order to avoid a
repeat of this, the issue of peat fires deserves serious attention, as is
currently being shown by the President.
Sumber : http://m.foresthints.news/sinarmas-forestry-company-found-guilty-of-unlawful-conduct-by-high-court-over-peat-fires
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