APKOI denies charges

As chairman of the council of experts of the Indonesian Wood Product Association (APKOI), I, Viator Butar-butar, would like to deny the reports published in The Jakarta Post on April 4, 2003, page 5, entitled Pulp firms accused of withholding reforestation funds and on April 23, 2003, Forestry taxes fall short in Riau: Timber expert.

The news is very surprising and misleading, and could spoil my academic credibility as I have never given an interview or made a statement on reforestation funds to a correspondent/journalist of the Post, let alone accused pulp and paper firms Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper (IKPP) and Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), of withholding (embezzling?) reforestation funds. On Wednesday, April 2, 2003, as written in the report, I was in Batam on an assignment and received no phone calls from the Post. So, how could I be referred to as an informant in the report published on April 4, 2003?

I did have an informal discussion about a month ago with several friends at the Aryaduta Hotel (attended also by Chaidir Tanjung, a contributor to the Post), concerning the forest resources tax (PSDH) received by Riau. Data from the Ministry of Forestry indicates that Riau's total PSDH revenue after consolidation was only around Rp 60 billion in 2002. Pursuant to Law No.25/1999 on financial balance between the central and local governments, the producing region is entitled to 80 percent of the revenue, or Rp 48 billion, broken down into Rp 10 billion for the provincial administration and the remainder for the relevant regencies/municipalities.

In my view, this amount is very low in view of the vast extent of logging in Riau to meet the raw material needs of pulp and paper firms as well as plywood, sawmills and molding firms. After obtaining confirmation of the figures from the Riau revenue office, we were prompted to conduct a study and gather a lot more information (which we are continuing to do up to the present).

Provisional results show that Riau has the potential for about Rp 400 billion worth of PSDH. This is calculated from estimates of the use of logs and scrap raw materials (BBS) according to the production capacity rates of the relevant forestry industries, such as pulp and paper, plywood, sawmill and moulding firms in Riau. The study has nothing to do whatsoever with reforestation funds.

On one occasion at the end of March, I had a discussion with some journalists (excluding Chaidir Tanjung). A domestic media journalist again raised the issue of PSDH. I said that PSDH worth Rp 10 billion for the provincial administration was very small.

In reply to a newsman's question as to how such low levels of revenue could happen, I said I had no precise idea.

I purposely make this clarification and denial in such a way that the editor can obtain more accurate information.

VIATOR BUTAR-BUTAR, Pekanbaru, Riau

Note: Thank you for your clarification.

--Editor