{"id":62819,"date":"2014-01-27T09:55:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T02:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/2014\/01\/victory-at-meulaboh\/"},"modified":"2014-01-27T09:55:09","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T09:55:09","slug":"victory-at-meulaboh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/2014\/01\/victory-at-meulaboh\/","title":{"rendered":"Victory at Meulaboh"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Meulaboh District Court\u00a0in Aceh has upheld the lawsuit\u00a0by the Environment Ministry\u00a0against a palm oil company\u00a0which set fire to peatlands.\u00a0This is the first such win.<\/p>\n

ON Tuesday, January 8,\u00a0Sudaryono was very\u00a0anxious. Several times\u00a0from early morning he\u00a0had phoned the prosecutor\u00a0and lawyer attending\u00a0the sitting\u00a0of the Meulaboh District\u00a0Court in Aceh where a verdict was about\u00a0to be handed down. By midday, their answer\u00a0was still the same: the sitting had yet to begin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like someone waiting to hear whether he\u00a0had passed an exam,\u201d the Deputy Head for Administration\u00a0of Environmental Law at the Environment\u00a0Ministry told Tempo last Wednesday.\u00a0First scheduled to be held on December 4,\u00a02013, the sitting where the court\u2019s verdict in the\u00a0Environment Ministry\u2019s charges against Kallista\u00a0Alam was to be handed down had already\u00a0been postponed twice. Near sunset, Sudaryono\u00a0again contacted the team at Meulaboh. This\u00a0time their answer was more hopeful: \u201cThe sitting\u00a0has already been under way for four hours,\u00a0but it\u2019s still not over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

The long-awaited news finally came two\u00a0hours before midnight. An environmental activist\u00a0who was attending the trial sent a text\u00a0message, \u201cCongratulations, the Ministry has\u00a0won.\u201d Unwilling to wait until morning, Sudaryono\u00a0asked a staff member to call a prosecutor.\u00a0\u201cApparently almost all our charges had been\u00a0upheld,\u201d recalled Sudaryono.<\/p>\n

The panel of judges at Meulaboh District\u00a0Court had handed down a surprising verdict:\u00a0they declared that Kallista Alam had broken\u00a0the law. Its \u2018sin\u2019 was to set fi re to an area of peat\u00a0at Rawa Tripa in Aceh\u2019s Nagan Raya regency.\u00a0The judges hit the palm oil plantation company\u00a0with a Rp114 billion fine in compensation.<\/p>\n

The Medan-headquartered company was fined\u00a0a further Rp251 billion to cover the costs of restoring the environment.\u00a0It was the first civil case ever won brought\u00a0by the Environment Ministry over forest\u00a0burning. On his desk Sudaryono still has a\u00a0stack of files on suspected damage to forests\u00a0perpetrated by seven other Riau companies\u00a0whose cases are also ready to be taken to trial.\u00a0\u201cHopefully our win in Meulaboh will inspire\u00a0others elsewhere,\u201d Sudaryono said.<\/p>\n

\u25cf \u25cf \u25cf<\/p>\n

THE charges against Kallista initiated\u00a0from reports by a number of environmental\u00a0watchdog organizations to the Presidential\u00a0Work Unit for Development Monitoring\u00a0and Oversight (UKP4) in early 2012. They\u00a0reported the burning of thousands of hectares\u00a0of peat within the Leuser Ecosystem\u00a0Area at Rawa Tripa.<\/p>\n

Based on these reports, the UKP4 then\u00a0wrote to the Environment Ministry and the\u00a0Indonesian Police on April 11, 2012, to advise\u00a0them. Two weeks later a special meeting\u00a0was held, attended by representatives\u00a0of the Environment Ministry, Police Criminal\u00a0Investigation Department, and the Attorney\u00a0General\u2019s Offi ce (AGO). That meeting\u00a0recommended those setting fire to the peat\u00a0should be taken to court, on both criminal\u00a0and civil charges.<\/p>\n

A joint team was formed, made up of investigators\u00a0from the Environment Ministry,\u00a0National Police Headquarters, as well\u00a0as the AGO. To check the reports, while obtaining\u00a0their own initial data, the joint team\u00a0flew to Rawa Tripa three times in May and\u00a0June 2012. In addition to the joint team,\u00a0the Environment Ministry assigned two\u00a0more experts on forest fi res and land damage\u00a0from the Bogor Agricultural Institute,\u00a0Bambang Hero Saharjo and Basuki Wasis,\u00a0to join it.<\/p>\n

When they returned to Jakarta, Basuki and his colleagues were not just carrying\u00a0their notes. They also brought samples\u00a0of soil, pieces of burnt trees, charcoal, and\u00a0ash, all to be examined in the laboratory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to collect as much data as possible,\u201d\u00a0declared Cicilia Sulastri, the Environment\u00a0Ministry\u2019s Assistant Deputy\u00a0for Dispute Resolution. On November\u00a08, 2012, the Environment\u00a0Ministry submitted its\u00a0civil charges against Kallista\u00a0to the Meulaboh District\u00a0Court.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, joint investigators\u00a0also submitted\u00a0their dossier for the same criminal\u00a0case to the AGO. The accused\u00a0was Kallista Alam, as the corporation\u00a0and entity responsible for opening up the\u00a0land at Rawa Tripa. Kallista CEO Subianto\u00a0Rusdi was named as one accused, representing\u00a0his corporation. Two others were\u00a0also accused: Setiono (general manager)\u00a0and Kamidin Yoesoef (estate manager).<\/p>\n

Last Thursday Tempo attempted to meet\u00a0the accused at Kallista\u2019s headquarters in\u00a0Medan city\u2019s Taman Setia Budi Indah 2\u00a0complex. But all three have apparently\u00a0long been absent. Once Subianto Rusdi was\u00a0named and accused, Kallista has been run\u00a0by his son, Palacheta. He was unwilling to\u00a0be interviewed.<\/p>\n

\u25cf \u25cf \u25cf<\/p>\n

AT the beginning of its dossier of charges,\u00a0the Environment Ministry revealed\u00a0that irregularities in the permit\u00a0for the palm plantation Kallista\u00a0had been granted at Rawa Tripa.\u00a0Aceh Governor Irwandi\u00a0Yusuf issued the new permit\u00a0for an area of 1,605 hectares\u00a0within the Leuser Ecosystem\u00a0Area. He signed the permit on\u00a0August 25, 2011. But in fact, from\u00a01998, Rawa Tripa had been declared\u00a0a conservation area.<\/p>\n

This permit was also issued after President\u00a0Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had issued\u00a0Presidential Instruction No. 10\/2011.\u00a0In that instruction, dated May 20, 2011, later\u00a0known as the Inpres Moratorium, the\u00a0President ordered no further permits to\u00a0open up peat areas should be issued in the\u00a0interim. UKP4 Chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto\u00a0at the time also confi rmed that\u00a0the Rawa Tripa peat area was included in\u00a0the moratorium map.<\/p>\n

The Environment Ministry accused Kallista\u00a0of contravening the law by setting fire\u00a0to the Rawa Tripa peat. By reference to the\u00a0hot spots recorded by America\u2019s NASA satellites,\u00a0the Environment Ministry suspects\u00a0this burning had happened repeatedly\u00a0for three years, from 2009 through 2012.<\/p>\n

Burning was carried out on an area of 1,000\u00a0hectares of peat\u2014out of the total 1,605 hectares\u00a0of land permitted to be opened up.\u00a0The Environment Ministry\u2019s legal representative,\u00a0Fauzul Abrar, says any burning\u00a0when opening up land contravenes Article\u00a069 of the Environment Law and Article\u00a026 of the Plantations Law. Kallista, he\u00a0says, also violated Presidential Decree No.\u00a032\/ 1990, which states that all peat lands\u00a0where peat is over three meters thick are\u00a0protected.<\/p>\n

Kallista\u2019s burning of peat in Rawa Tripa is\u00a0also considered to have damaged and polluted\u00a0the environment. Calculations by experts\u00a0and laboratory simulations estimate\u00a0the burning of 1,000 hectares of peat released\u00a0around 13,000 tons of carbon and\u00a04,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The burning also damaged the\u00a0peat\u2019s structure so it can no longer fulfi ll its\u00a0function of water storage. The usable life of\u00a0the area is estimated to have been reduced\u00a0by up to 15 years. Peat areas thousands of\u00a0years old are unlikely to ever be restored.\u00a0The Environment Ministry now calculates\u00a0the losses to the state caused by Kallista\u2019s\u00a0actions at around Rp366 billion. They\u00a0include material losses from the damage to\u00a0and pollution of the environment of Rp114.3\u00a0billion, as well the cost of restoration of the\u00a0environment of another Rp251.7 billion. So\u00a0that its suit will not all have been for nil, the\u00a0Ministry did not forget to ask that the 5,769\u00a0hectares of land owned by Kallista in West\u00a0Aceh Regency be seized as a guarantee of\u00a0payment.<\/p>\n

During the trial, Kallista\u2019s legal representative,\u00a0Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan, presented\u00a0its defense. He denied the charge that\u00a0Kallista set fire to the land in Rawa Tripa.<\/p>\n

Even though traces of the burning had been\u00a0found, he said, those could just be from \u2018fire\u00a0jumps\u2019 from areas outside Kallista\u2019s land.\u00a0Kallista\u2019s lawyer also considered the\u00a0charges very unclear. The plaintiff was only\u00a0able to explain one fire on March 23, 2012 in\u00a0a block covering 29.5 hectares. Whereas,\u00a0Luhut said, they claimed 1,000 hectares of\u00a0land had been burnt.<\/p>\n

The panel of judges headed by Rachmawati\u00a0did not just try the case in the courtroom.\u00a0The judges twice held sittings at the location\u00a0itself. Examinations on site proceeded on\u00a0August 28-29 and September 30, 2012.\u00a0Fauzul Abrar says when the judges first\u00a0arrived on the site, a fi re monitoring tower\u00a0had just been built there. A forest fi re-fighting\u00a0crew, complete with fi re engines and\u00a0other heavy equipment, were also standing\u00a0by at the ready. During investigators\u2019 three\u00a0earlier field verifi cation trips, \u201cNone of that\u00a0was there,\u201d declared Fauzul.<\/p>\n

The onsite court sittings, plus the clarifications by expert witnesses put up by\u00a0the Environment Ministry in the courtroom,\u00a0were apparently sufficient to convince\u00a0the judges. They agreed with almost\u00a0all the charges put forward by the Environment\u00a0Ministry. The judges only rejected a\u00a0request that the verdict should be applied,\u00a0even though it is not fi nal and binding in\u00a0law, as well as that Kallista should pay penalty\u00a0interest of six percent from when the\u00a0case first went to court.<\/p>\n

In Jakarta, Environment Minister\u00a0Balthasar Kambuaya expressed his relief at\u00a0the decision. \u201cThis success is thanks to the\u00a0good cooperation between all parties,\u201d he\u00a0said in a press briefi ng last Monday.\u00a0\u25cf JAJANG JAMALUDIN (JAKARTA), UNTUNG\u00a0WIDYANTO (RAWA TRIPA), SAHAT SIMATUPANG (MEDAN)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Meulaboh District Court\u00a0in Aceh has upheld the lawsuit\u00a0by the Environment Ministry\u00a0against a palm oil company\u00a0which set fire to peatlands.\u00a0This is the first such win. ON Tuesday, January 8,\u00a0Sudaryono was very\u00a0anxious. Several times\u00a0from early morning he\u00a0had phoned the prosecutor\u00a0and lawyer attending\u00a0the sitting\u00a0of the Meulaboh District\u00a0Court in Aceh where a verdict was about\u00a0to be handed down. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2037,"featured_media":65382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4053,4003,4113],"tags":[],"partner":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-62819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-forests","category-kalimantan-en","category-sumatera-en"],"yoast_head":"\nVictory at Meulaboh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Meulaboh District Court\u00a0in Aceh has upheld the lawsuit\u00a0by the Environment Ministry\u00a0against a palm oil company\u00a0which set fire to peatlands.\u00a0This is the\" 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On February, Vast Haris Nugroho Nasution was caught red-handed in an undercover police set up for selling a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/category\/type\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":101100,"url":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/2024\/02\/the-struggle-of-indigenous-women-in-mentawai-to-get-clean-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":62819,"position":1},"title":"The struggle of indigenous women in Mentawai to get clean water","author":"Rus Akbar Saleleubaja","date":"February 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Exploitation of the forests of South Pagai and North Pagai Islands in the Mentawai Islands has caused indigenous women to have difficulty obtaining clean water.","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/category\/type\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Air terjun Matobat","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ekuatorial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ekuatorial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ekuatorial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ekuatorial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ekuatorial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63903,"url":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/2015\/01\/ministry-of-environment-and-forestry-accepted-court-ruling-over-its-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":62819,"position":2},"title":"Ministry of Environment and Forestry accepted Court ruling over its law","author":"Florence Armein","date":"January 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Jakarta, Ekuatorial \u2013 Ministry of Environment and Forestry stated that it had respected Constitutional Court on granted the appeal on the 2009 Law on Environmental Protection and Management. \"Ministry of Environment and Forestry accept and respect the Court decision and will make adjustment in the law to be able to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Energy"","block_context":{"text":"Energy","link":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/category\/topics\/energy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ekuatorial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/52_Logo-MK-Upload.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62795,"url":"https:\/\/www.ekuatorial.com\/en\/2012\/07\/tripa-acehs-burning-shame\/","url_meta":{"origin":62819,"position":3},"title":"Tripa: Aceh\u2019s Burning Shame","author":"","date":"July 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tripa peat swamp, one of the largest capacities\u00a0storing carbon in Aceh, is near total ruin. 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