Corruption, no coordination benefit illegal loggers<\/p>\n
Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung<\/p>\n
Thousands of cubic meters of illegally cut trees are still
\nscattered around deep inside the jungle of South Bukit Barisan
\nNational Park in Lampung province.<\/p>\n
The illegal loggers who cut the trees have been arrested, but
\nlocal officials have been having difficulty figuring out what to
\ndo with the timber, let alone how to access it all.<\/p>\n
A top military officer said carrying logs into a \"safer place\"
\nwas expensive as the logs were deep in the jungle, dozens of
\nkilometers from any roads. It has been estimated that it could
\ncost Rp 200,000 per meter cubic just to take logs out of the
\njungle, said chief of the West Lampung military command Lt. Col.
\nAlbar Hasan Tanjung.<\/p>\n
Albar said he had made a proposal to the West Lampung regency
\nadministration, where the forest is located, to allocate budget
\nmoney for the military to retrieve the timber, but there had been
\nno response thus far from regency officials.<\/p>\n
The military officer said he was perturbed that the government
\nhad ignored the military's proposal to \"save the logs\".<\/p>\n
\"The veil of ignorance has also discouraged the military,
\nwhich has been working with the national park management in
\ncombating illegal loggers for the past six months,\" said the
\nofficer.<\/p>\n
Albar added that despite the regular operations to halt
\nillegal logging, tree felling was still rampant in the national
\npark, which is located in both West Lampung and Tanggamus
\nregencies. The illegal loggers are said to be well-organized and
\nhave become adept at avoid arrest.<\/p>\n
\"They even have fairly sophisticated two-way radios that can
\npenetrate blank areas, to facilitate coordination and
\ncommunication. In contrast, we don't have any device that can
\npenetrate areas that are not covered by the cellular telephone
\nnetwork,\" lamented Albar.<\/p>\n
However, an environmental activist, Mukri Priatna, blamed a
\nlack of coordination among the military, police and
\nadministration officials for the rampant illegal logging.<\/p>\n
He urged the three institutions to plan anti-illegal logging
\noperations together so that through concerted efforts they could
\nbe more effective in stopping the illegal loggers.<\/p>\n
Separately, chief of the South Bukit Barisan National Park
\nmanagement group, Tamen Sitorus, explained that many security
\nposts had been erected inside and outside the national park, but
\nthey were not much help against the loggers.<\/p>\n
The security posts, manned by officials from the Ministry of
\nForestry, have reportedly become tainted and were now used as a
\nplace where the illegally cut timber could get legal documents.<\/p>\n
Some officials have allegedly been cooperating with the
\nillegal loggers to allow the illegal logs to pass the posts and
\nbe taken to designated areas. \"The security posts are no longer
\neffective. If they were effective, illegal logging would no
\nlonger occur,\" said Tamen.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/corruption-no-coordination-benefit-illegal-loggers-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}