Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The Environment and Forestry Ministry is in hot water after refusing to release what it deems to be confidential documents but which several civil society organizations say is public information, access to which is key to an ongoing study of forestry sector performance.
Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) said Thursday that the ministry was currently on trial at the Central Information Commission (KIP) for denying the watchdog access to four kinds of documents. "When we were asked [by the government] to monitor the implementation of the SVLK [local timber legality verification system], we asked [for the documents], but they wouldn't give them to us even though we had been given the mandate," FWI executive director Christian Purba told The Jakarta Post. "That's why we had to file the lawsuit."
The four types of documents requested are the Timber Usage Working Plan (RKUPHHK), the Annual Timber Usage Working Plan (RKTUPHHK), the Industrial Material Fulfillment Plan (RPBBI) for volumes of more than 6,000 square meters and the Timber Exploitation Permits (IPK).
The RKUPHHK and the RKTUPHHK, are needed to compare the actual number of trees being logged with the ministry's stated aims, as well as to assess the compliance of companies in relation to permits granted by the government.
The RPBBI and the IPK, meanwhile, are used to monitor the supply chain of materials in the logging industry to determine whether they have been sourced in a legal manner.
The four documents are required by the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) – signed by the Indonesian government and the European Union (EU) to be disclosed to the public – as the EU will only accept legal timber from Indonesia. The agreement was ratified by Presidential Decree No. 21/2014.
As such, it was strange for the ministry to break the rules, Christian said. "This dispute shows that the ministry has drifted even further from the spirit of public transparency," he added.
Ministry spokesman Eka W. Soegiri said the government was unable to release the requested documents,as the trial was still going on, with a verdict scheduled to be handed down in early May 2015.
"This dispute occurred because there were differences in understanding between the ministry and the plaintiff regarding access to information," he told the Post on Thursday.
Once the verdict is issued, the ministry will accept it, even if it means it must provide access to the documents, Eka said.
The KIP judged the RKTUPHHK to be public information in a 2014 case filed against the forestry agency in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan.
"With such a precedent, the current trial should have ended a long time ago. But it's already been going on for six months now. There might be something fishy going on," Christian said.
This is not the first time the ministry has been put on trial for its reluctance to provide information.
The Indonesian Center of Environment Law (ICEL) also challenged the ministry at the KIP for refusing to provide a forestry map of Aceh between 2010 and 2013 in shapefile format. The ministry only agreed to provide the.jpg version of the map, reasoning there was no way for the ministry to validate the shapefile format.
According to the law on geospatial information, a person can be sentenced to prison if he or she releases information that is invalidated.
"But without the shapefile format, our analysis could be hampered. Our results will be different if we use the.jpg file," ICEL researcher Dessy Eko Prayitno said on Thursday.
The ICEL needed the shapefile format of the map because the format could be easily transferred and edited using the Geographic Information System (SIG).
The KIP, however, found the ministry not guilty. The ICEL is currently filing an appeal at the state administrative court (PTUN).
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/04/24/government-taken-task-keeping-forestry-documents.html