Prestigious environmental awards, including the Kalpataru award, seem toothless in protecting the environment due the private sector, which reportedly use its vast capital to weaken environmental government policies.
Former state environment minister Juwono Sudarsono said Indonesia was facing a dilemma in protecting the environment against an increasing influence of business players on the market.
"With respect to Kalpataru, the trophy's value has been eroded judging from the massive conversion of land into real estate across the country," he told a discussion at the State Environment Ministry on Friday.
He said the private sector had better technology and more capital than the government.
"It is weakening the government's ability, including the environment office, to meet public interest, including protecting the environment."
Juwono was state environment minister for 70 days under former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
The Kalpataru is the most prestigious award presented to people or communities that have contributed to preservation and improvement of the environment.
So far, 264 people have received the award, which is presented annually on World Environmental Day.
For the first time since it was launched in 1980, the government revoked this year a Kalpataru award from a recipient who built a road across a protected forest in Riau.
Another former environment minister, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, agreed with Juwono's statement, saying the private sector helped damage the environment.
"To make it worse, many leading politicians who make decisions concerning the environment are businessmen," he said.
The government has long been pressured to address issues that have helped cause natural disasters, including floods, landslides and excessive pollution.
The 2008 Environmental Report stated the quality of air, water, rivers and waste management across the country had declined due to poor law enforcement.
The State Environment Ministry also fails to enforce the law against polluters.
Aside from the Kalpataru, the ministry also awards the Adipura to the cleanest regions in the country and the Proper award to green companies.
Jakarta, one of the most polluted capitals worldwide, for example, managed to win the Adipura trophy consecutively for being among the cleanest and greenest cities in the nation.
The Proper rating has long been criticized by environment activists as ineffective to improve corporate environmental responsibility, unless the government take action, such as revoke business permits.
The Proper rating, first launched in 1995, ranks companies on a color scale, the highest being gold, followed by green, blue, blue minus, red, red minus and black.
The rating is based on an assessment of companies' environmental impact on air and water, hazardous material management and corporate social responsibility.
The black rating is given to the country's worst polluting companies, some that deliberately ignore environmental practices.
In 2009, the government slapped the black rating on 56 firms of 627 assessed companies. But none were punished.
- JP/Adianto P. Simamora
