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Siti Nurbaya Bakar: Licensing is not followed by controls

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19 October 2018 13:41 WIB

Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya. ANTARA/Muhammad Adimaja

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A few days back, the hash-tag #melawanasap (battling the haze) was a hot topic on Twitter, posted by tens of thousands of Tweeps who vented their anger over the destructive haze caused by forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Residents in provinces there had become seriously alarmed, as the haze penetrated into everything, homes and even hospitals.

Once again, the haze was seriously affecting the air over most of Indonesia's western provinces and neighboring countries, to a dangerous level. The National Disaster Management Board (BNPB) officially declared the air quality over Riau and Sumtara to be below standard and becoming increasingly worse. The evidence was clear in the pollution levels over towns on the Andalas Island, which was classified as dangerous to human health.

The government finally stepped in and declared Riau to be in an emergency. Some 20 aircraft carrying water and cloud-making seeds were deployed to hotspot sites. But that was not enough, prompting critics to remonstrate that the government undermined the problem, and that it acted too leniently towards the people and the companies responsible for this environmental catastrophe.

A key figure in this controversy is Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Surbaya Bakar, who could not hide from the desperate calls of help from the afflicted people. She immediately urged the BNPB to declare a state of disaster in Riau. "The people have reached a dangerous psychological level. If we don't listen to them, there will be trouble. They could end up taking over the governor's office," Siti told Tempo reporters, Tulus Wijanarko, Isma Savitri, Prihandoko, Rusman Paraqbueq, Untung Widyanto and Denny Sugiharto, in her office last week.

During the hour and a half-long interview, Siti explained the government's efforts to solve this long-running problem and the hurdles it faces in the system and the bureaucracy in seeking an effective and lasting solution. She suggests that one way would be to ensure that the guilty parties be taken to court and legally penalized. 

Why did the government take its own good time to address the serious problem of haze?

At first I focused just on Riau. At the request of the House of Representatives (DPR), I then turned to South Sumatra. I discounted Jambi because the vegatation there is quite dense. I focused on Riau because for more than a decade, this region (administratively) is known to be chaotic. After that, I concentrated on (the provinces of) South Sumatra, West and Central Kalimantan. I was still in Norway, when the South Sumatra and Jambi haze set in. Our data confirms that the largest forest fire areas were indeed in South Sumatra, an area covering 40,000 hectares.

According to law, managing the haze comes under the purvey of disaster management. But in the past, the system just operated on its own. I didn't want that, so I improved the coordination (between ministries). On December last year, we coordinated with Bareskrim (police crime investigation unit) and the BNPB, as well as with the private sector. I believe that the process of issuing (operating) licenses must be followed by the control (oversight) mechanism. Governors should participate, meanwhile the private sector must take some resonsibility over the problem.

Has coordination with regional administrations worked so far? 

I have been continuously in contact with the governors but even so, we failed.

Management of haze and forest fires is the responsibility of the disaster management (BNPB) office, but they seem restricted in what they can do.

Not really. We control forest fires but when signs of imminent disaster emerge, well that would be (the responsibility of) the BNPB.

So, the status must first be determined, then action and management to follow?

In the past, it was like that. But after I joined the ministry, I asked the BNPB chair to change the definition of disaster and emergency. We cannot wait until everything is on fire before calling it a disaster. I said that if there are indications of such a disaster, that we should categorize it as pre-disaster. They agreed and called for a disaster-alert status. In my view, whatever you call it, when the hot spots start flaring and the air pollution level rises, we should immediately start working together.

Is it true you were upset because one governor refused to declare that status? 

No. I got upset over water canals. But, yes, I was persistent that affected provinces declare a disaster alert status, because people were getting mad. If nothing was done, there would be protests, and they would end up occupying the governor's office.

Yet the impression is that the government's handling of the haze problem was tardy.

Enforcing one's authority in this case, needs the proper technology, particularly when the affected land is massive. Actually, it's not fair to be angry at the central government, because the mandate to protect the land also falls on regional chief executives. The bottom line is that we all must improve governance and the bureaucracy. We have observed that most forest fires happen in the peatland areas of Riau, and yes there are so many of them. In theory, the problem can be solved if the peatland is not so dry. I've also noticed that there seems to be some kind of panic, because concession areas are being used up. The drainage system is built tightly close to one another.

Does the peatland map show their depths?

We are still looking into this. We haven't done it before because depth can only be seen by applying the LiDAR system, a new technology we would like to acquire. But with the density of drainages, the peat dries up because all the water is pumped up. So one idea proposed is that we separate canals in concession areas. Actually, we already told companies to build canals not too closely to each other in their concession areas. Some of them have complied.

Last May, I asked the BNPB to help the local governments to build canals, because this is their function, to be done by the appropriate units in the local bureaucracy. But as of July, nothing had been done. I finally insisted on it and by June I loudly yelled for help. The trouble is that the local governments are scared of acting on their own, worried about later being charged (for not following procedures). They ask, what do canals have to do with disasters? That's the perception among bureaucrats, and it's really slowing down the decision-making process of the governors. (*)

Read the full interview in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine



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