In Indonesia Nabbing Culprits Of Haze Linked Fires Is Like Catching Smoke

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Wildfire forensics expert Bambang Hero Saharjo still remembers clearly the land and the forest fires that occurred on PT Bumi Mekar Hijau’s concession land in Ogan Komering Ilir, South Sumatra, six years ago. The fires ravaged a 28,000-hectare area.
Bumi Mekar Hijau, a wood supplier for Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) Sinar Mas - a business group owned by tycoon Eka Tjipta Widjaja, who died at the age of 97 early last year - has been sued twice over the matter.
The Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry had taken Bumi Mekar Hijau to civil court, while a criminal case was filed following police findings of criminal culpability.
Bambang (below), a forest conservation professor at the IPB University, Bogor, was part of an expert team for both of these suits.
“I went to the location when the fires were still burning,” he said.


Bambang Hero Saharjo
Bambang said it took a long time for the fires to subside because the company did not have the infrastructure and equipment to extinguish them. 
Besides not having fire lookout towers, Bumi Mekar Hijau only had six firefighters, who were working on two old motorbikes and living in a simple dormitory.
Hurdles in civil and criminal court
Despite what looked like a clear case of negligence, the civil suit faced hurdles in court.
In the civil suit, Bumi Mekar Hijau was accused of not putting serious effort into preventing fires.
The Palembang State Court held a hearing at the site of the fire in November 2015, one year after Bambang’s visit to the location. The judges invited him to the hearing.
Bambang said that on his second visit to the location, a 20-metre-tall fire lookout tower was already standing, along with a large dormitory and a warehouse for firefighting. Tens of firefighters with complete uniforms and a double cab truck were also found on site.
“Someone who had never been there before would think that the company has had sound firefighting infrastructure and equipment for a long time,” he said.
Because of the impressive firefighting tools, the court decided to reject the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s civil suit.
Chief judge Parlas Nababan freed Bumi Mekar Hijau from the threat of paying Rp7.6 trillion (RM2.1 billion) in material compensation and environmental restoration.
In a High Court appeal, the judges granted the suit but the compensation value was lowered to Rp78 billion.

A Flourish chartBambang had then called on the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry to submit a cassation request, where the court is asked to review a case based on the interpretation of the law.

Although the ministry agreed, it did not file the request on time. 
“The excuse was that the court documents had gone missing,” Bambang said. 
The verdict that was then executed was based on the one issued for the appeal.
The criminal case saw an even worse fate. In September 2015, the Indonesian National Police Criminal Investigation Division (Bareskrim) named Bumi Mekar Hijau’s management as a suspect for the fires on its own concession land.
But until now, it is not clear how the case has been handled. Bambang has not been given updates.
When contacted, national police spokesperson Senior Commissioner Awi Setiyono said he did not “understand the details of the case”.
'At least 29 suspected culprits'
Auriga Nusantara, an organisation that monitors the management of natural resources, said it had recorded at least 29 companies that were named as suspects in land and forest fires since 2015. Of that, only 10 were taken to court.
“Six were found guilty, two were released, and two others are still in court,” said Auriga media and communications director Syahrul Fitra.
The rest are six cases still under investigation and two investigations have been discontinued. The fate of the remaining 11 cases is unclear. 
“They just disappeared. One of them is Bumi Mekar Hijau’s criminal case,” Syahrul said.




Forest and land fires in Indonesia lead to haze, prompting school closures in Malaysia in September 2019.
Civil suits seem more promising than criminal cases. Of the 40 companies sued for allegedly causing fires on their concession land throughout 2014, 17 companies were required to pay compensation at a total value of Rp17.82 trillion.
Of that, nine companies were found guilty and were required to pay compensation and land restoration of Rp3.45 trillion. But of all the verdicts, only Rp269.8 billion was able to be executed, namely, from PT Riki Kurniawan Kartapersada and Bumi Mekar Hijau.
Syahrul said it has been difficult to execute verdicts because the Environment and Forestry Ministry did not include a request to seize assets in court.
As a result, despite guilty verdicts, judges often do not include a request for seizure. Another effect is that these companies can evade paying as no assets are placed as collateral.
'No action'
When the disaster was at its worst in October 2019, the Environment and Forestry Ministry law enforcement directorate-general (Gakkum) announced that it had sealed concessions owned by 64 companies. At the time, eight of these had been declared as criminal suspects.
But the recent fires that seem to have again ravaged Bumi Mekar Hijau’s production area have not sprung law enforcement into action.
The head of Gakkum in Sumatra Area III, Harianto, said at this time his team is still handling a land and forest fire dispute with 14 companies with plantation and forest concessions.
“All are given administrative sanctions. Several are being elevated to civil suits, and some are being handled by the police for criminal suits,” he said. 
“The Bumi Mekar Hijau case is being handled directly by the central (Gakkum),” Harianto added. 




Haze from forest fires in Indonesia blankets surrounding areas with an orange tint.
In Jakarta, no Gakkum officials were willing to be interviewed. The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director of environmental dispute resolution, Jasmin Ragil Utomo, has not given a response other than “I’m still busy” on Sept 3. 
Likewise, criminal law enforcement director Yazid Nurhuda asked for the interview request to be sent to his superior. But Gakkum director-general Rasio Ridho Sani did not respond to our text messages and rejected our phone calls.
Meanwhile, South Sumatra police spokesperson Senior Commissioner Supriadi said police are not involved in handling any cases of land and forest fires involving Bumi Mekar Hijau land.
“We’ve determined one company as a forest fire suspect, but it’s not Bumi Mekar Hijau,” he added.
At the time of writing, Tempo has not received a response from the Bumi Mekar Hijau management. Bumi Mekar Hijau’s office on Jalan R Soekamto, Kompleks PTC No. I/62, Palembang, was closed when we visited it on Sept 4. An employee at another company in the same complex said Bumi Mekar Hijau had moved several months ago.
APP Sinar Mas chief sustainability officer Elim Sritaba said in a statement the firm requires its business units and suppliers to properly clear land, and “not with fire”.


This report was published by Indonesian magazine Tempo as part of its series on forest and land fires and haze.  - Mkini

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