British TV bans MPI forestry ad

British TV bans MPI forestry ad

In response to your article about the British TV body
suspending the forestry commercial paid for and produced by the
Indonesian Forestry Community (MPI), published on Aug. 15, 1994.

The executive president of Association of Indonesian Wood
Panel Producers, A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, said that our protests
against the advertisement were "made out of ignorance" because,
he implied, we did not realize that clear cutting was legally
allowed in Indonesia, in convertible forests.

The MPI ad however made the blanket claim that clear cutting
is not allowed in Indonesia. Why did they make this claim? Could
it be that Bob Hasan and the MPI are the ones ignorant of RI
forestry regulations?

It was our very appreciation of the fact that RI legally
allowed clear cutting in certain circumstances which made it very
simple for us to provide the Independent Television Commission
(ITC) with evidence to counter the claims made by the MPI ad.

On another point, I was extremely disappointed to read that
Pak Tjipto ascribes all the blame for illegal logging to the
"500,000 families of farmers throughout the country who depend on
the slash and burning method".

It has been estimated by Bob Hasan that US$3.5 billion in
government revenue is lost each year through illegal logging. How
can 500,000 families who probably don't own a single chain saw
account for this?

What about companies like Indah Kiat, which have been recently
fined for illegal logging? What about PT Kalhold Utama, one of
Bob Hasan's own companies, that clear cut a highly productive
forest (and therefore does not fulfill RI regulations for clear
cutting), which has since been proven to belong to the Bentian
Dayaks of Jelmu Sibak?

When such glaring and highly pertinent omissions of fact are
made by the Indonesian timber industry, how can we be expected to
take anything they say seriously? And if they do not wish "us
Westerners" to have an opinion on the condition of Indonesia's
rain forests, why do they choose to pay such huge amounts of
money to invade our living rooms with this ad?

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to make it
clear that, contrary to the statement made by Pak Tjipto, the ITC
took the decision to permanently withdraw the ad as from Aug. 13,
1994.

TERRY BROOKES

Project Coordinator

Down to Earth

London