House will reject Perpu on mining in protected forests: Legislator

The House of Representatives will likely to reject the government’s decree in lieu of law (Perpu) which allows 13 mining firms to resume activities in protected forests, Investor Indonesia daily reported in its Tuesday edition,

“If this Perpu is submitted to the House, most of the voices (members) will certainly reject it, because the government didn’t think much about the long-term effect of allowing mining activities in the protected forests and it was part of the government effort to sidelines the House,” the House’s Commission VIII chief Irwan Prayitno told the Investor on Monday in Jakarta.

In fact, the Perpu was issued after the House failed to take a decision on the mining activities in the protected forests.

“It was almost more than a year, the process to approve the permission went no where and it was not yet finished. The debate was also big because of the overlapping with the mining activities in the protected forests,” Irwan said.

Meanwhile, 11 non-governmental organizations, which have formed a coalition called Koalisi Ornop, have demanded the House to reject the Perpu. (*)