Padang, West Sumatra. Environment Minister Rahmat Witoelar said, starting in 2010, perpetrators of environmental destruction will be jailed based on new law enacted in September 2009.

“In 2010, perpetrators of environmental destruction will be jailed, they will no longer be able to escape the snare of law,” the minister said here on Saturday.

Delivering the keynote speech at a seminar conducted by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in cooperation with several non governmental organizations (NGO)s, Rahmat Witoelar said the government had prepared a new law that will be approved on September 8, 2009 in a bid to replace law no. 27/1997 on Environmental Management.

“This statement is not bluff but will be proved,” he said, adding that the new law was named Law on Management and Environmental Protection.

Minister Witoelar said, the new law was deliberately formulated to replace the Law No.27/1997 which was considered not effective, and failed to jail the environmental destroyers so far.

In the meantime, the House of Representatives (DPR) has approved the new law about the management and protection of the environment, the environmental minister added.

Source: ANTARA News – 15 August 2009 20:14 +7 GMT