Fast, transparent legal process on illegal logging a must
Tony Hotland Jakarta
A group of environmentalists renewed on Wednesday their call for a prompt and transparent legal process in illegal logging cases as a condition to restore public trust in the government and to deter other people from committing the crime.
"These guidelines won't be effective if they are not accommodated with the courage (of law enforcers). Penalties must also be executed in a fast and stern way, whatever the level of the harshness is," spokesman for the group Agus Setyarso from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Agus was referring to the new guidelines for tackling illegal logging drafted by the Ministry of Forestry, WWF, and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).
Representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from various regions, the forestry ministry and law enforcement institutions ended on Wednesday a two-day discussion on the draft, which covers problems related to illegal logging issues.
The government is currently finishing a regulation in lieu of the law on illegal logging, which allows the establishment of a special institution authorized to investigate, arrest and prosecute those involved in the crime.
This is expected to speed up the legal process in illegal logging cases since the institution will not have to go through the bureaucratic levels of the police or the prosecutor's office.
Agus said the existing law enforcement failed to deter illegal loggers, not only because of lenient punishments, but because big players were untouchable.
"Besides, the database of illegal logging cases is uncoordinated, confusing the detection and monitoring of such crimes. The NGOs, the (forestry) ministry, and other activists keep their own data, while, on the other hand, coordination among law enforcers is poor," said Agus, who also heads the committee that made the draft.
He also reverberated the need to equally promote the country's wood industry, which comprises legal activity, to balance the widespread campaign against illegal logging.
"The international world has given quite extreme responses to our campaign against illegal logging by gradually refusing to buy our timber. The government must provide details about trustworthy timber companies and their forest concessions for the sake of our wood industry," he asserted.
The group also suggested that the central government and local administrations improve their communication to avoid the enforcement of conflicting regulations.
"The implementation of the regional autonomy law remains far from ideal. Local administrations can issue regulations that often contradict the higher ones. This frustrates investors, while on the other hand illegal loggers are using existing loopholes and local regulations (that accommodate their operations)," he said.
The discussions, said Agus, also brought inputs, such as the determinant indicators to review the effectiveness of a regulation or an action in connection with illegal logging.
Agus said the draft would be reformulated and then distributed to local administrations as a reference.