Riau Supports Malaysia Filing Lawsuits Against Forest Burners
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Sabtu, 10 Oktober 2015 17:22 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Intsiawati Ayus, a member of the Riau Legislative Council, supported Malaysian government’s plan to lodge lawsuits against forest burners in Indonesia. According Intsiawati, most of the forest burners were companies from Malaysia.
“I’m glad with the plan, because 70 percent of the forest burners are Malaysian business owners,” Instiawati said in a discussion in Jakarta on Saturday, October 10, 2015.
Earlier, Malaysia and Singapore showed harsh reactions over forest fires in Indonesia. The Singaporean authority has filed subpoenas against five companies that allegedly burned forests.
Instiawati also asked the Indonesian government to conduct moratorium on land clearing for plantation. Otherwise, Intsiawati added, haze disaster affecting Kalimantan and Sumatera could spread to Sulawesi and Papua in five years.
“I asked the government to issue moratorium [on land clearing] seven years ago. But the government didn’t budge. Now, this is what we get,” she added.
Instiawati suggested that the government should have required companies to submit their annual plans as to be watched by relevant agencies. Instiawati added that the moratorium would be necessary since most of the oil palm plantations had run their businesses since 1980s and replanted the land for the second time. Therefore, Instiawati viewed that those companies were no longer qualified to gain permit extensions.
FAIZ NASHRILLAH