British TV body suspends RI forestry commercials

British TV body suspends RI forestry commercials

JAKARTA (JP): The Independent Television Commission (ITC) of
Britain has suspended controversial commercials paid for by the
Indonesian Forestry Community (MPI), following complaints from a
number of viewers and environmental groups, an environmentalist
said over the weekend.

Terry Brookes, the project coordinator of Down to Earth, a
London-based non-governmental organization, told The Jakarta Post
in a telephone interview on Saturday that ITC had decided to ban
the ad because of its "unrealistically positive picture of
forestry practice in Indonesia."

Brookes quoted the ITC as saying that the ad was suspended
because the claims it made were not justified and that it was in
breach of the ITC Code of Advertising Standards and Practices
which forbids political advertising.

A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, the executive president of the
Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo),
however, responded on Saturday that the protests of the
environmentalists were made out of ignorance, referring to
Indonesia's convertible forests, which are legally allowed to be
clear-cut.

Down to Earth opposes the ad which claims that clearcutting of
forests in Indonesia is not permitted and that 280 million acres,
or 79 percent of the forested land, has been classified as a vast
permanent forest.

The ad is currently being shown on Dutch TV, CNN
International, CNN of the United States, the Hong Kong-based Star
TV, which broadcasts its satellite channel all over Asia,
including to Indonesia, as well as on Indonesian channels, which
include TVRI, RCTI, SCTV, TPI and ANteve.

ITC suspended airing of the advertisement, which was shown on
Channel 4 and two London-based satellite channels, the UK Gold
and the Discovery, from July 9.

According to Tjipto, the Indonesian government has introduced
a four-segment classification of forests, which covers
preservation forests, national parks or refuges, industrial
forests and conversion forests.

"If someone wants to establish a plantation, of course, he has
to clear-cut a certain area of conversion forests," he said,
adding that population growth and economic activities force the
government to legally permit the clearcutting of a forest.

"But you're not allowed even to enter a refuge or a national
park. Don't touch that area," he bluntly responded in a telephone
interview.

Illegal cutting

A number of environmental organizations, including Down to
Earth, EarthARC, Environmental Investigation Agency and
Greenpeace, complained about the advertisement and produced
evidence querying the statements and inferences made by the
commercial, which led to the ban.

Touching on the issue of illegal cutting, Tjipto said that
500,000 families of farmers throughout the country depend on the
slash and burning method.

"How can we stop them? We cannot observe this problem with a
Western point of view," he added, referring to the protest of
international NGOs over illegal cutting.

Minister of Forestry Djamaloedin Soeryohadikoesoemo, timber
baron Muhammad (Bob) Hasan, who chairs the MPI and Apkindo, as
well as executives of ITC, were not available for comment on
Saturday.

Brookes said that in a bid to combat calls to boycott
Indonesian timber, earlier this year Bob Hasan had launched a
major global timber campaign, which included a trip to European
countries and a major advertising campaign, with "an unlimited
fund."

She added that the mainstay of the campaign consists of a very
luscious television advertisement promoting Indonesia's
sustainable forestry practices.

"The timber industries' interest is only selling their
products and cutting down the forests," she said.

Tjipto, however, said that ITC had only suspended the
advertisement, stressing that the independent commission has not
prohibited the advertisement.

"We're always open for discussion. And we have sent letters
asking the commission to clarify the reason for the current ban,"
he said, adding that the move against the advertisement is "a
little bit politically overtoned."

According to Down to Earth, ITC published the decision to ban
the advert in its July issue of a monthly publication, the
Television Advertising Monthly Complaints Report.(09)