Down with smugglers!

The recent Asian-African Summit concluded successfully. The hurly-burly of the golden jubilee commemoration of the Asia- Africa Conference may continue, but smugglers are operating like it's business as usual. At least two coincidences occurred during the summit involving one of the summit members, China.

First, Chinese textile products that have legally, but most probably illegally, been flooding the country's markets have the potential to bankrupt Indonesia's textile manufacturers (and cause 1.2 million textile workers to lose their jobs), as these fabrics are sold for Rp 2,300 (24 US cents) per meter compared to Rp 7,000 per meter for local products.

Chinese textile products now account for 60 percent to 70 percent of all textile products in the country's domestic market (The Jakarta Post, April 21).

Second, only recently, four ships laden with 60,000 to 80,000 cubic meters of illegally cut logs from Papua anchored in the southern China port of Zhang Jia Gang, already adding to the nine million cubic meters of illegally cut logs already smuggled into China. These particular Papuan logs, known as merbau, are sold by locals for Rp 100,000 (US$12) per cubic meter, but in China the smugglers may sell them for Rp 2.5 million ($270) per cubic meter (Media Indonesia, April 25).

The above two cases relate to the flood of illegal commodities coming into Indonesia and China. One is Chinese textile products that are threatening the Indonesian textile products, and the other is illegally logged Indonesian timber enlivening China's wood products. The difference is that both commodities are making China the winner and Indonesia the loser.

The strategic partnership deal that was struck between China and Indonesia recently to strengthen trade between the two countries again makes Indonesia the loser because all commodities, including logs entering China, are deemed legal ( Post, April 26).

However, this must not weaken efforts by the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to crack down on and crush the smugglers. The already launched Operasi Hutan Lestari II (an operation to conserve the forests) must be stepped up to add to the already arrested Malaysian timber barons, the latest being Tie Sing Yew, April 24, in the West Kalimantan border town of Entikong (Post, April 25).

M. RUSDI Jakarta