Forestry office accused of corruption
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
The West Java forestry office has been accused of misusing around Rp 4.2 billion (more than US$500,000) allocated for reforestation in an area on the slopes of Mount Mandalawangi in Garut regency.
Around 100 people from the Association of Mount Mandalawangi Victims staged a protest at the West Java legislative council on Thursday to demand that something be done about the failure to completely reforest the hill side in addition to serious allegations of corruption.
Protest leader Asep Sirojudin said the West Java forestry office had only replanted trees on 350 hectares of critical land, but the 2003 provincial budget allocated Rp 4.2 billion to reforest 944 hectares.
"After research we also found mark-up practices. The price of seedlings (for the reforestation) actually cost only Rp 1,000 each, but their accounts say the prices were between Rp 4,000 and Rp 7,000 per stalk.
"If the reforestation project continues like this, it will not result in reforested area. It (the project) will only become a cash cow for certain officials," Asep said.
The protesters also accused the West Java forestry office of marking up the value of the project overall.
Based on Presidential Decision No. 18/2000, any reforestation project must be carried out through a tender and the prices of seedlings in the proposals must not exceed Rp 2.5 million per hectare of land.
But the local forestry office set the prices at Rp 4.5 million per hectare of reforested land, then only planted on one-third of the total area it was supposed to, Asep said.
The West Java provincial administration decided earlier to put the deforested Mount Mandalawangi as its top priority for reforestation after a landslide killed 21 people and damaged hundreds of houses on Jan. 29 last year.
The landslide was blamed on the denuded hillside, and because state-owned logging company Perhutani did nothing to stop rampant illegal logging on the mountain.
Last September, local residents won a class action suit against Perhutani at the Bandung District Court that ruled that the company must pay Rp 50.4 billion (US$6.07 million) in compensation for damages.
The court argued that Perhutani had rented out the forest areas to local people who later used the land for agricultural purposes.
Responding to Thursday's protest, West Java councillor from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Darius Dolog Sarebu, who met the protesters, promised to raise the issues that they were concerned with at council's Commission F for environmental affairs and natural resources, of which Darius is a member.
Meanwhile, West Java prosecutor Sartono said his office had decided to investigate mark-up allegations at the forestry office.
"Soon after receiving a report from the people, we issued a letter to open an investigation and we hope to start the investigation process immediately," he said.
West Java forestry office head Endang Supriadi denied the graft allegations, but confirmed that only 350 hectares of the 944 hectares of deforested land would be replanted.
"We would only do 350 hectares because we did not get the money until October and that was just Rp 2.5 billion of the Rp 4.2 billion that was agreed upon. And of that amount, we have spent only Rp 75 million," he explained.
Endang added that he was prepared to be questioned by the West Java Prosecutor's Office in connection with the allegations of corruption.