Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government defended its plan to merge the Environmental Impact Control Agency (Bapedal) with the Office of the State Minister of Environment Friday as the most efficient way of compliance with the reform movement.

State Minister for Administrative Reforms M. Feisal Tamin explained that the merger will give more power to the Office of the State Minister of Environment -- not only to formulate a policy, but also to enforce it.

"Such a new formulation of the office will be stated in a presidential decree on the merger; no decision has yet been taken as the issue of the merger still constitutes discourse for now," he told reporters at his office.

These remarks came after a closed-door meeting with State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim and protesting activists from groups including, among others, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), World Wildlife Fund Indonesia and the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Yayasan Kehati).

The environmentalists questioned the reasons for the merger, which they believed will not be beneficial to efforts to protect the environment and natural resources, since the office of the state ministry only has the authority to coordinate its subordinate body.

Walhi chairwoman Emmy Hafild found that the draft of the presidential decree, dated on Nov. 16, 2001, -- which was made available to her office -- failed to put Law No. 23/1997 for the establishment of Bapedal into consideration.

"The office of the state minister and Bapedal are really two different institutions, but both can be held by the state minister; the merger idea itself will be a violation of the law," she said.

The activists met earlier with the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) faction at the House of Representatives to seek support for the cancellation of the plan.

Emir Moeis, vice chairman of the House's Commission VIII supervising, among others, environmental issues, said there will be a hearing on the issue.

"We're afraid that the merger will terminate the Bapedal's control function, while we understand that enforcement of the environmental policy should be more powerful," he said.