TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Riau police effectively disregarded President Joko Widodo's call to act firmly against parties responsible for last year's forest fire in the province when it discontinued the investigation of 15 companies suspected of causing the fire.
The police were at first quick to indict the 15 companies and dozens of people. About the same time, investigators from the environment and forestry ministry probed six companies allegedly responsible for the fire. In a stark contrast to the police's decision to let the accused off the hook, these investigators filed lawsuits against two of the companies.
The police appeared to have hushed up the suspension of the investigation, issued some time at the end of 2015, and revealed it only recently when the outrage surrounding the haze had declined. The lack of evidence indicating the companies' intent to cause the fire was cited as the rationale behind the order to stop investigations (SP3). The police said that the fire had occurred on the disputed land or the land controlled by local people.
Their argument does not make sense. The police at the start stated that they would use all laws available to probe the fire. There are at least four applicable legislation: Law No. 41/1999 on Forests, Law No. 39/2014 on Plantations, Law No. 32/2009 on Environment Protection and Management, and lastly the Criminal Code.
Under the Criminal Code, deliberate intent must be proven. Thus, the code is more applicable to individuals. To get at the corporations, the police must take maximum advantage of the environment and the plantation laws, which make companies liable to preventing and handling fires.
The police could slap these companies with the strict liability aspects of the laws. The forestry law, for example, stipulates that those holding the land rights or permits are required to protect forests, including through prevention, which can be proven by whether or not a company employs people or tools to extinguish the fire. If the number of personnel and equipment are not proportional to the size of the land, the company can be charged with negligence.
The excuse that the fire occurred on land controlled by the local population needs further probing to determine if the land had been completely beyond the reach of the companies and if the companies had used the land after the fire.
A 2014 research done by Joint National Compliance Audit Team formed by the Presidential Taskforce for Development Supervision and Control found that the main cause of forest fires during the past five years was the negligence of companies and regional governments. The technical inadequacy and lack of equipment on the part of companies and regional governments in anticipating fires also played a critical role.
Police headquarters must audit how its regional subordinates handled the case involving the 15 companies. Do not let the public see the law enforcers as trivializing the President's instruction. The government can also file civil lawsuits against these companies. Without stern and firm legal action, forest fires that pollute the environment and the subsequent smoke that create havoc among the local population and neighboring countries alike are bound to recur year in and year out. (*)
Read the full story in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
