Forestry bill does not support small firms

Forestry bill does not support small firms

JAKARTA (JP): The proposed forestry bill fails to address
local administrations' demand for greater autonomy in managing
the country's forest assets, according to the Indonesian Forestry
Society for Reform (MPI Reformasi).

The organization's chairman, Sofyan Siambaton, said on
Wednesday that the draft law also gave no support to the
government's program to empower cooperatives and small industries
in the forestry sector.

"The draft law should be revised before being submitted to the
House of Representatives for ratification," he told a news
conference.

He said that the draft law was too centralistic and
inconsistent with the government's recent moves to redistribute
the country's forest assets from the small number of big
companies and to provide a better chance for cooperatives and
small businesses to benefit from the forests.

The bill, which is currently awaiting government approval
before being deliberated by the House, proposes the establishment
of special forestry companies to represent the government in
issuing forest licenses to private firms and cooperatives.

All matters related to forest management are to be decided by
the minister of forestry and plantations through the state-owned
forestry companies.

Sofyan said such a regulation would prompt dissatisfaction
among local communities, cooperatives, and small companies
because they would have to deal directly with the central
government when managing their forest areas.

Such a regulation would be too costly for them, he added.

Sofyan said that the bill (in its current form) also provided
a big opportunity for officials of the appointed state forestry
companies to practice collusion with big timber companies.

It would also prompt dissatisfaction among local people over
what they might see as a company's disregard for the local
economy, he said.

"Why can't we trust governors and provincial administrations
to handle small-scale forest management conducted by local
people, cooperatives and small-scale timber companies. The
ministry could handle the large-scale forest utilization, such as
the pulp and plywood factories," he said.

"Local administrations should be given a greater role because
they are the ones who are involved directly in the field."

He said that the violent attacks by local protesters on the
pulp and rayon mills of publicly listed PT Inti Indorayon Utama
near Lake Toba in North Sumatra last month, were an example of
the hazards faced by resource-based ventures operating in
Indonesia's new era of reform as a result of the government not
accommodating local people's needs. (gis)