Letter: South Tapanuli regent clarifies

Tue, 12/02/2008 10:35 AM  |  Reader's Forum

I would like to clarify several of my statements in an article titled "Regional Autonomy: South Tapanuli halts road project, dismisses NGO fears," (The Jakarta Post, Nov. 24, p. 9).

In the opening paragraph of the article, it was stated "The South Tapanuli regency administration will continue a number of development programs involving forest conversion despite stern criticism from NGOs over environmental concerns."

What I said was: "There are lots of development projects we plan to do, but it is not possible since it's involving forest conversion, which need special permission (which is very difficult to obtain) from the (forestry) ministry, and the strong control of the NGOs."

In the article, I was stated as "the former chief executive officer of Alsthom Indonesia, a subsidiary of the U.S. Halliburton Group."

This is totally misleading. I was the former CEO of Alstom Contracting Indonesia (2001-2004). Before joining Alstom, I worked with PT Azil Engineering (previously OTIS Engineering, which is a subsidiary of U.S. Halliburton). Alstom is not a subsidiary of Halliburton. Alstom is a European Company, based in Brussels.

In the tenth paragraph, the article reads, "Don't blame the regency administration for forest damage since we don't have the authority to manage it. If we had the authority we would manage it well."

It should have said, "Don't blame the regency administration for forest damage since we do not have sufficient authority to manage it. If we had sufficient authority, we would manage it well", adding that his administration would like to stop the existing concession license (IUPHK) if it were so authorized.

In the 13rd paragraph, it reads, "said the forest conversion issue would not halt the administration's other projects".

It should have read, "said the forest conversion issue halts many project developments, and we have submitted the proposal to revise the 'regency spatial planning' (RUTRW) which requests the conversion of some forest areas which are technically viable to accommodate the development needs".

There is also a very small mistake in 14th paragraph, "The electronic engineering graduate ...". This should have been, "electrical engineering graduate".

ONGKU P. HASIBUAN
Regent of South Tapanuli
North Sumatra

Note: Thank you for your clarification. We apologize for the errors.

-- Editor

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