TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSouth Sumatra court dismisses peatland fires lawsuit
Eleven plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in Palembang, demanding damages from three plantation companies.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Burning issue: Firefighters battle a blaze at a peatland forest in Ogan Ilir, Riau on July 31, 2021. Forest and land fires are the main source of carbon emissions in Indonesia. (AFP/Abdul Qodir)
A
court in South Sumatra has thrown out a lawsuit filed by residents against plantation companies, which accused the firms of causing lung-choking smoke by lighting peatland fires.
Eleven plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in Palembang, demanding damages from three plantation companies.
But a court in the city declared their case inadmissible, according to a post on the court's website Thursday, without giving a reason.
The ruling had left residents "in a difficult situation" after a months-long struggle for justice, said one of the plaintiffs' lawyers Sekar Banjaran Aji, also a Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner.
"The court should provide justice but, instead, they do not help the people," Sekar told AFP on Friday.
She said they were planning to appeal the verdict.
Three companies named in the lawsuit -- PT Bumi Mekar Hijau, PT Bumi Andalas Permai, and PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries -- are suppliers to Asia Pulp & Paper, one of Indonesia's largest pulp and paper companies.
The lawsuit alleged fires in the companies' concessions have contributed to widespread haze in Palembang in 2015, 2019 and 2023, said Greenpeace Indonesia.
The NGO said the court's reason was that the plaintiffs "lacked standing to sue".
Plaintiff Muhkamat Arif called the ruling "disappointing".
"This will not dampen our spirits to continue fighting until we win," he said in a statement.
Asia Pulp & Paper did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
A prolonged dry season has caused higher risks of wildfires in Indonesia, stoking fears of repeat haze-belching forest fires that have also affected neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore in recent years.
