Walhi Monitors Legal Enforcment Against Forest Fire Perpetrators In Riau

Pekanbaru, Riau, (Antarariau.com) - The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) is closely monitoring the legal enforcement proceedings against a company that is suspected to have lit fires in forest and plantation areas in Meranti Island District.

"We reported PT National Sago Prima (NSP), a subsidiary of Sampoerna, on February 21, for setting off forest and land fires in Meranti. This case is interesting because the investigators named NSP as a suspect, but the provincial police said it is not yet a suspect," Executive Director of Walhi Riau Riko Kurniawan remarked here on Thursday.

Kurniawan considered that the Riau provincial police were slow in handling the case.

He recollected that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to Riau in March 2014 instructed strict law enforcement against those setting fires in Riau.

Therefore, legal enforcers should have been proactive in imposing the law against the perpetrators in order to create a deterrent effect, the NGO activist pointed out.

He suspected that the company tried to slow down the legal process by not furnishing information in a timely manner.

Around 500 hectares of the company s plantation area were razed by fire, which spread to the surrounding areas, including local farmers sago plantations, thus affecting a total area of 1.2 thousand hectares.

"We consider that the company had shown negligence. The local farmers lost their earnings because their sago plantations were destroyed by the fire. Now, they could lose their income for 10 years," he claimed.

The Riau Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) also called on the legal enforcers to tackle the fire cases on an urgent basis.

According to Executive Director of the Riau Kadin Muhammad Herwan, strict legal enforcement must be in place to deter others from deliberately setting fires in the future.