Down with smugglers!

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