Universitas Gadjah Mada’s (UGM) lecturer in Law Faculty, Dr. Sigit Riyanto., SH., LL.M, said that environmental law enactment needs to be fought for. Settlements of several environmental cases end up in the environment itself being sacrificed. The poor conceptual understanding of environment leads to the subordination of environmental law below political and economic affairs.
"Environmental laws have not been considered an important issue and a priority for policy making,†he said in the Faculty on Tuesday(23/3) during a session of panel discussion entitled “The Effectivity of Environmental Law in Indonesiaâ€.
Sigit Riyanto was concerned when the House of Representatives established a special team to investigate the Century case while no initiatives had been taken by the legislative to set up a special team to resolve environmental issues, for example, the Lapindo case in East Java.
"This showed that environmental issues are in the lowest level of law upholding. This is something common in a developing country such as Indonesia. Inspite of the legislation, the enactment of environmental law is still normative," he said.
To respond to such condition, Sigit suggested that civilians and NGOs take a role in balancing the lobby done by industrial players so that, in terms of environmental protection, awareness about exploitation would arise not only among the current generation but also future generation. "Don’t let environmental cases sacrifice the environment itself. Either, several cases between conflicting parties do not make the environmental problem itself a priority to be resolved. That is what’s happening now," Sigit said.
His colleague, Linda Yanti Sulistiawati, SH, MSc, has a similar view. She said that Indonesia has actually the legal guidance for the protection of environment. Law No 23/1997 mandated the Management of the Environment. MPR Decree No 17/MPR/1998 on Human Rights also touched upon this issue in its national declaration on Human Rights, mentioning everyone’s right for better and healthier environment. Also, Law No 39/1999 on Human Rights guarantees man’s freedom (right to live).
Linda regretted the Lapindo mudflow case in 2006 or forest fires between 1997-1998. Those showed the low level of environmental law enactment, making people who are affected have to struggle to survive.
"Despite the numerous laws, protection of affected people is still minimal and far from the ideal. The Government and the industry should give more attention in order that environmental laws can truly be enacted," said Linda.
Meanwhile, Prof. Michael Faure, lecturer from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, reminded those wanting improvement of damaged environment to stick to empirical researches on the condition that takes place in a certain country. Good environment is found in countries that effectively enact firm environmental laws. "This includes giving attention to poverty issues and the minimum income of the surrounding people affected by the environmental damage," Prof. Faure said.