Extortion practices in wood transportation criticized

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor expressed concern yesterday about the frequency with which owners of vessels transporting sawn timber from outer islands into Jakarta were forced to pay illegal levies.

Head of Commission B for economic affairs Djafar Badjeber said that each vessel owner was forced to pay a minimum of Rp 2 million (US$140) per trip.

"The Rp 2 million is only for a single trip from Kalimantan or Sumatra to Jakarta," he said.

According to the vessels' owners, the money was collected by officials, including personnel of the Sea and Air Police Squads and Navy, who supervise security and order at sea and in Jakarta port areas, he said.

"They told us that they are usually raided by officials looking to extort money from them ten times during a single cruise to Jakarta," he added.

Djafar said the owners had to prepare more than that for mischievous officials who would either politely or harshly extort money from them every time they transported wood to Jakarta.

He said his commission met the vessel owners in North Jakarta on Thursday to hear the latters' complaints on extortion practices, which had burdened their businesses for years.

Djafar said the officials had taken advantage of their positions in authority.

"Isn't it weird that the officials could blame the vessels' crews for sailing or transporting the wood with incomplete documents while the vessel itself had complied with all the procedures and had all the documents required at the departure port," he said.

According to the vessel owners, the officials usually stopped the vessels in the open sea to check the documents relating to both the vessels and the wood, he said.

"The officials always said that the documents were not complete, seized the papers and told the crews to meet the officials at their offices to 'fix the problem' and take the papers back as soon as the vessels arrived in Jakarta," he added.

The vessel owners said the officials usually accused them of carrying fake permits to transport the sawn timber, said Djafar.

The owners believed that they could sail on the sea to transport the woods because they had completed all the requirements at the departure ports, he said.

Unfortunately, he said, the vessel owners and their crews had no courage to argue or reject the officials' demands.

"The owners said that several mischievous officials had threatened the vessel crews verbally or even fired a single fire shot into the air with a pistol deliberately held near one of the crew's ear. Can you imagine that?"

Djafar said that as soon as the vessels arrived at the port, the owners were forced to face other extortion practices.

"The port officers usually blamed the owners for exceeding the maximum loading capacity. The vessel owners had to pay another Rp 2 million or Rp 3 million to 'soften' the officers or else they will not be allowed to unload the wood," he said.

Vessels which transport sawn timber usually unload their cargo at Sunda Kelapa and Kali Baru in North Jakarta.

Between 250 and 300 vessels unload the wood each month at Kali Baru alone. The wood is mainly used in property construction in Jakarta.

But according to the vessel owners, the number of vessels had dropped to only 100 a year during the last three years due to the increased frequency of extortion, said Djafar. (cst)