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Business Group Backs Green Proposal
Fidelis E Satriastanti | March 16, 2010

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An entrepreneurs’ organization on Tuesday expressed support for the government’s plan to issue a regulation that would strictly enforce compliance with environmental requirements.

The regulation, proposed by the State Ministry for the Environment, is aimed at companies that have already started operating but have not submitted their environmental impact analysis documents (Amdal), which consist of data that measures how much business activities are affecting the environment.

Based on the 1997 Environmental Law, an Amdal is required by the government from anybody starting a business. But the law was poorly carried out, as violators were not legally liable if they failed to comply.

Under the new green law, the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law, companies have been given a chance to conduct environmental audits within two years.

“I don’t think that we [entrepreneurs] would have any problems if there are going to be any environmental audits. If it’s the regulation, then we will comply with it,” said Erwin Aksa, chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi).

Erwin said entrepreneurs were aware that the Amdal was mandatory, but the lack of government monitoring resulted in poor compliance.

“The government should have been very firm,” he said. “Basically, we know the Amdal is mandatory but monitoring is not our role. It’s in the government’s hands, and we just follow it.”

Asep Warlan Yusuf, an environmental law expert from Bandung’s Parahyangan University, said the new green law were not meant to replace the Amdal’s role as an initial requirement for businesses.

“The issue here is that we have plenty of businesses that have started without an Amdal, so we need to require them to undergo an environmental audit in order to see how far their activities have been affecting the environment,” Asep said.

Because the government could not just close down companies that do not have an Amdal, the 2009 law was needed, Asep said.

“Let’s be realistic here. The government could not just shut down all of these companies,” he said.

“They may have broken some procedure, but that does not automatically mean that they have damaged the environment.”