Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government should work harder to prevent environmental pollution and destruction instead of focusing on just discussing it, Coordinator of Political Desk of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) Khalisa Kalid said.

"Energy and time, as well as resources owned by the state, should be directed towards restoring the environment. That is more important than the destruction of the environment," he told a press conference at the WALHI executive office in Jakarta Monday.

The discourse to scrap building construction permit (IMB) and environmental effect analysis (Amdal) is not high on the list of priorities, she said.

The discourse on the abolition of IMB and Amdal aimed at attracting more investment inflows to Indonesia should not be made public, he said.

Amdal is one of the tools to control environmental destruction and serves as the people's participation to monitor the impact of development since they could complain about the impact of projects.

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Translator: Prisca Triferna Violleta/Suhar
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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