Judges in Pontianak adjourned a class action over forest-fire haze until October 21 after national government representatives did not attend the first hearing.
Indigenous and civil-society groups in West Kalimantan criticised Indonesia's national government for missing the first hearing of a class action that seeks to hold it responsible for haze from forest and land fires. Reuters reported from Pontianak on Wednesday.
Judges adjourned the case until October 21 because government representatives were absent. The suit, filed in September, claims the government was negligent in preventing and handling fires that burn every year.
Indonesia is fighting its most intense wildfires in 11 years, mainly on Sumatra and Borneo, and the government has warned fires could continue until November, worsened by El Niño. The fires and haze have driven a rise in respiratory illness and reached Malaysia and Singapore.
Plaintiff Yakobus Kumis, representing a Dayak group, said the absence teaches people that violating the law is acceptable. He said warning signs were ignored and called for the situation to be classed as a national disaster. The presidential office did not immediately comment.
Plaintiffs named in the filing are the West Kalimantan chapter of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, the provincial Catholic Youth branch, Perkumpulan Laman Punyung Indonesia and Sisilius Rami. The hearing produced an adjournment, not a ruling on liability.
People Sentiments Negative
- Yakobus Kumis said the government's absence teaches people that violating the law is acceptable.
- Kumis called for the fires to be classified as a national disaster.