Balthasar Kambuaya: Police chase people, we go after companies

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The forest fires in Riau are believed to have been caused by big companies, aggravating Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya no end, particularly since many of those companies are classified as 'repeaters.' His ministry has vowed that it will not only sue the corporations in civil and criminal courts, "We will also carry out campaigns so no one buys their products," said Balthasar, in an interview with Tempo reporters Jamaludin and Febriyan at his office last week. Excerpts:

Forest fires are back in Riau. Do you see any changes in the pattern as of last year?

The pattern is actually the same as the fires last year. Fires are still happening in many land plots being cleared. In fact, there's one company which burned plots last year, and is doing again this year. But we discovered a certain method being used. The companies found a legal loophole and are turning to the local people.

What is the legal loophole?

Article 69 of the Environmental Law says that local residents may burn land plots not exceeding two hectares. Well, one company divided plots of land in its concession area to locals. Each one of them gets two hectares, then the company tells them to burn the land.

Why is that article there?

That article is to accommodate the interests of traditional and tribal communities whose livelihood is farming, and ensure they don't get charged when they clear land. That's the reason for the article. Land clearance by burning can only be done for local commodities, not for industrial plantations. Even that should be done through a system of controlled burning.

What steps are being taken by your ministry following the fires this year?

We have agreed with the police to divide our work. The police will hunt down the people, we will look for the companies. This means the police will handle the arsonists one by one, while we handle companies which have been burning land. So far, the police have indicted 116 people, and we have deployed some 21 investigators to look into the activities of companies. Initial results show there are 46 companies suspected of this crime. But lately, the number was reduced to 23.

Are this year's fires larger in scale than last year's?

Judging from the number of companies involved, there are more of them. So, yes, the fires are bigger. Our investigators are still finding out how large an acreage has been burnt down.

Last year, your ministry investigated seven companies, but the cases haven't gone to court yet. And now the number of those indicted companies have risen.

I have requested that the cases be settled fast. Three to six months ahead, all files should be completed and ready to be transferred to court.

Why the three to six months target?

To ensure the evidence doesn't get lost. We don't want prosecutors returning case files back to us, or having cases that lost in court.

So far, law enforcement on forest fires take a long time. Where lies the problem?

These fires are proof that the evidence and the data must be strong. Their expert witnesses must go to the field to confirm whether the land has been set on fire or not. But companies usually have lots of tricks. For example, if their land plots have been burnt, there will be fire at the border between their land and that of a local villager. In that way, the company can say the fire from the villager spread into their land. We must verify whether that claim is true or false. And we still have to determine the distance of the burnt areas. That's really far. Investigators must be on site for a long time.

Besides having them indicted for a criminal offense, will the ministry sue them in civil court too?

Yes, so there will be a deterrent effect, especially on bad companies and repeaters.

Will there be special action against repeat offenders?

We will suggest to the Forestry Ministry to blacklist those companies, and freeze their licenses and not give them new ones. In fact, we will carry out a public campaign so no one buys their products. I have spoken to the forestry minister. They agreed. (*)