The Scope THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES OF THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN described by a seminar on the problems of environment and natural resources in AsiaPacific as having reached a critical point. In fact, this crisis is likely to endanger the development programs of these countries unless immediate measures are taken to rectify these ecologically destructive trends (Environmental Crisis in Asia-Pacific 1984). One of the manifestations of this critical situation is environmental pollution in its various forms. In Indonesia, environmental pollution is defined by Act No. 4 of 1982 on the Basic Provisions for the Management of the Living Environment (henceforth referred to as Act No. 4) as: the entry or introduction of living organisms, matters, energy, and/or necessary components into the environment, and/or changes in the environmental system due to man's activities or natural processes, resulting in the decline of the environmental quality to such a level which causes the environment to function insufficiently or to lose its proper function. In the narrow sense, environmental pollution is a criminal act regulated in articles 202 and 203 of the Penal Law, and further in article 22 of Act No. 4/1982, and widely associated with the violation of the rights of the individual to a good and healthy living environment (article 5 of Act No. 4/1982). In this connection, rights can be classified into five different, yet inter-related, levels (Canada 1985, pp. 8-10). First is the right not to have one's life or health harmed or endangered as a result of environmental pollution, the health effects of which are known, predictable, serious and relatively immediate. Second is the right to a reasonable level of environmental quality, even when a specific pollutant or pollution source cannot now be identified with certainty as the cause of specific health damage or risk, on the grounds that sooner or later serious pollution of the

environment will threaten human life and health as well. (Here, it is explicitly assumed that there are particular victims, identifiable ones, though the form of the process of victimisation is yet unknown.) Third is the right to a level of environmental quality which is not violated by pollution depriving one of the use and enjoyment of the environment, even when there are no health effects or dangers. Fourth is the right of the environment to be protected from serious pollution for its own sake, even if pollution incidents should result in no direct or indirect risk or harm to human health or limitation upon the use or enjoyment of nature. Fifth is the right to have one's private property protected from damage by pollution caused by others. Crime against the environment¾pollution, in particular¾includes acts that may range from carelessness to criminal acts that may endanger the safety of the public (Danusaputro 1981). A number of issues have arisen in connection with these matters, particularly because of the failure to pinpoint the presence of social injury. An example is the case of water pollution which directly affects the lives of so many Indonesians; a specific definition is needed here to determine whether or not pollution occurs. So that pollution acts can be defined, says a paper of the Centre for the Study of the Criminal Law and Jurisdiction System of the Faculty of Law of the University of Indonesia (1980), it is necessary to determine all the effects that are detrimental to the public that can be prevented through criminal sanctions. In general the conceivable losses are health hazards, economic and social injury and sanitary hazards. Economic and social injury needs to be given special attention, because usually it is more difficult in such cases to prove a causal relationship. A Picture of the Occurrence of Environmental Pollution At present, no comprehensive data are available in Indonesia on environmental pollution and damage. Nevertheless, from a study of environmental pollution that can be harmful to man undertaken by a team from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Indonesia and a team from the National Legal Development Board of the Ministry of Justice, the following picture emerges (Ministry of Justice 1985). Pollution by Mercury Some of the cases of pollution by mercury that have led to the victimisation of the public in Indonesia are as follows: Battery factory in Cimanggis Water below the plant proved to contain mercury poison. The water had been used for drinking by the factory workers, and this had caused more than half of them to suffer from kidney diseases. The sample showed that the water contained 0.014 PPM, which was three times the permissible limit. Muara Angke In the fishing-village of Muara Angke, of five families with a total of 30 children, 15 died before they reached the age of three. The mortality figure for this age group country-wide is 13.7 per cent. The mercury content of the Muara Angke neighbourhood has been shown to be very high. 

Muara Karang Three children in this village who had been suffering from physical disability were discovered to have eaten a lot of 'tongkol' fish, which had high levels of mercury. From these cases it is apparent that mercury in the water has been victimising the public; it is feared that the number of victims will continue to increase. Carbon-Monoxide pollution A number of studies of the carbon monoxide content of the air in Yogyakarta indicated high levels: in the downtown area and the bus-station the CO content was 99 mgr/lt; around the post office it was 56 mgr/lt and near the rail-road crossing it was 78 mgr/lt (Warta Konsumen 1985).

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