APKOI denies charges

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