T

he government is preparing more lawsuits against some of the alleged perpetrators of last year’s massive forest fires following a recent landmark ruling that sets a precedent for the upcoming legal battles.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry is set to file civil lawsuits against four palm oil companies allegedly responsible for some of the 2015 forest fires, a tragedy seen as a crime against humanity after they caused the deaths of 19 people, mostly children, and brought about US$16 billion in economic losses.

“It’s almost final. We just have to look at it again because we have to be careful and learn from existing processes,” the ministry’s environmental dispute settlement director, Jasmin Ragil Utomo, told The Jakarta Post.

Each of the four companies allegedly burned between 500 and 1,800 hectares of land in Palembang in South Sumatra, Jambi and South Kalimantan.

The ministry’s Directorate General of Law Enforcement has already filed one lawsuit against palm oil company PT Waringin Agro Jaya in South Sumatra at the South Jakarta District Court on July 18.

As for the four lawsuits, the ministry will use the concept of strict liability in two cases, according to Ragil. The concept means that companies can be held responsible for fires in their concessions, even if there is no proof that the fires were caused by them or their negligence.

Experts believe the concept is the key to upholding justice in environmental cases given that in many cases, the court has ruled in favor of companies as a result of the difficulties in proving that the fires were caused by concession holders.

The government has gained more confidence in using the concept after a panel of judges used it when handing down its verdict against plantation company PT National Sago Prima (NSP), ordering the firm to pay a record fine of Rp 1.07 trillion (US$81 million) for forest fires on its concession in the Meranti Islands regency, Riau.

The ground-breaking verdict is expected to set a precedent for future cases, as it marks the first time a court has used the concept of strict liability in an environmental case, as well as imposing a fine of more than Rp 1 trillion.

Ragil said the government had not included the strict liability concept in its lawsuit against PT NSP, a subsidiary of publicly listed plantation firm PT Sampoerna Agro, and that it was the judges’ initiative to use the concept.

Instead, the government used the unlawful misconduct concept, accusing PT NSP of violating Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 12/2009, which states that concession holders are responsible for fires on their concessions.

“Even though the lawsuit used the unlawful misconduct concept, the judges concluded that what was initially unlawful misconduct was strict liability,” Ragil said.

According to lawyer Patra M. Zen, who represented the government in the case, the ministerial regulation was pivotal in winning the case, as it allows culprits to be held directly responsible for the fires, even with a lack of proof that they are responsible.

He added that the government was fortunate to have judges that understood the concept of strict liability.

A fire expert from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Bambang Hero Saharjo, who also stood as an expert witness for the case, said it was apparent that PT NSP had not fulfilled its obligation to prevent forest fires in its concession.

PT NSP was among 17 companies audited by the now defunct presidential working unit for the supervision and management of development (UKP4) in 2014.

The audit found that none of the companies had passed the compliance test, which measured the companies’ level of compliance with environmental regulations.

Most of them lacked adequate facilities and the infrastructure needed to prevent forest fires.

PT NSP’s legal representatives, law firm Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo, said the verdict was unjust because it did not take into account scientific opinions from experts presented by the defendant.

“This was proven by a dissenting opinion from one of the judges [I Ketut Tirta], who is competent in environmental issues,” the law firm said.