President vows to take strong action to protect environment

President Abdurrahman Wahid vowed on Saturday that the government would take strong action to protect the local environment, the Media Indonesia daily reported.

""For the things that threaten the environment the government will not compromise, while those that can be compromised we will compromise," he said in a speech in commemorating the Earth Day.

He said that one example that could not be compromised was the oil project to be developed by a consortium from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on the Selayar Island in South Sulawesi.

He said that the government had to drop the project because the Island had a conservation area and a protected corral reef environment.

The previous government of B.J. Habibie allowed the consortium to start the project, but President Abdurrahman Wahid cancelled it to protect the environment.

But Media Indonesia said that the government was still planning to develop another oil terminal in one of the islands in the Eastern Part of Indonesia to develop the region's economy. (*)