JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Civil society who are members of the Anti-Mafia Forest Coalition considers that the panel of judges who won PT Bumi Mekar Hijau in the case of forest and land fires in South Sumatra did not understand environmental issues.
The Palembang District Court judge led by Parlas Nababan was even deemed incapable of assessing the losses caused by the fire.
“The panel of judges has a narrow understanding of losses due to forest destruction and neglects to pay attention to relevant laws,” said AURIGA forestry sector legal researcher Syahrul Fitra, at the ICW Office, South Jakarta, Wednesday (1/6/2016).
According to Syahrul, the judge simply compared the protected forest area with the function of the peat ecosystem.
In fact, the determination of the protection function of peat ecosystems is carried out with a different mechanism.
In addition to being seen as incapable of seeing damage to flora and fauna, the judge was also deemed incapable of seeing the effects of forest fires that produced a haze that was harmful to humans.
“In addition, judges do not seek maximum proof because they always use expert statements that benefit the company,” Syahrul said.
As reported by Kompas, in its consideration, the panel of judges stated that they rejected all claims filed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK).
(Read: Company Lawsuit on Forest Fires, Government Defeated in Court)
The judge considered that the fire did not damage the land because it could still be planted with acacia plants. The panel of judges also considered that acacia plants were also on fire so that the company had suffered losses.
Previously, KLHK demanded Rp 2.6 trillion in material compensation and Rp.5.6 trillion in environmental recovery costs for a 20,000-hectare fire in the company’s area in 2014.
The pulp supplier company for the APP Sinarmas group is considered negligent so it cannot control widespread fires.