Govt to settle "King Fisher" case through negotiation
Saturday, April 22 2000 - 05:30 AM WIB
The government may settle its case with the owner of oil tanker called MT King Fisher through a negotiation rather than court process, according to Muhdin Saleh, an official at the Indonesian Shipping Council.
Similar statement was also made by Sularyanto of the directorate of shipping and sea affairs at the Ministry of Communications.
The Suara Karya daily quoted the two as saying that Indonesia had signed a civil law convention, which stipulated that the owner of the oil tanker must pay compensation for environmental damage caused by tanker accident.
Muhdin said that Indonesia didn't have to go to the court to demand for the compensation because the civil law convention already stipulated that the oil tanker owner must provide the compensation.
The MT King Fisher accidentally colluded with a rock on the waters of Cilacap, Central Java, early this month overthrowing all of its 600 thousand barrels of oil into the water causing damage to the environment. (*)