Government drafts regulation to tackle illegal logging effectively
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Government announced on Sunday that it is drafting a regulation in lieu of law (perpu) as an emergency measure to crack down on illegal logging practice that have caused trillions of rupiah to the nation.
Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa said that the current criminal law (KUHP) had proven unable to quickly and effectively crack down on the increasing illegal logging practices due to the long procedure it required for the punishment of anyone involved in the crime.
"We believe the current situation an emergency so we need a short-time solution, that is a perpu. This perpu will enable the ministry to establish a special task force to investigate, arrest and put to trial the criminals," he said.
Under the country's legal system, a perpu, which is higher than a governmental decree in legal power, is normally issued in case of emergency to avoid the lengthy process of law making which involves the House of Representatives. The perpu does not need the House's approval.
Prakosa said that many smugglers of illegally-cut logs had been caught by police but released in the middle of the process without any explanations from the police of the reasons behind their release.
He cited as an example the recent release of the Bravery Falcon ship, which was caught trying to smuggle a huge amount of logs from Papua last December. The capture and the release of the ship was made by the navy.
"They were foreigners who carried logs without any papers. They were clearly smugglers. Still, they could go freely without anything we could do," said Prakosa.
Under the perpu, the special force to be formed by the government will be authorized to arrest smugglers and illegal loggers and seize their timber. The force could immediately sell the timbers and submit the money to state, prakosa added.
This special force composed of people from the police, the prosecutor's office and the navy will have a special authority to catch even government employees that help the smugglers.
Several legislators have agreed on the importance of the perpu to quickly solve the illegal logging problem. They said that perpu should allow the establishment of a special court to quickly handle cases of illegal logging.
According to the government, Indonesia has approximately 120.5 million hectares of tropical rain forest, or 63 percent of the country's land territory. However, it faces a serious threat of deforestation, with between 1.6 million and 2.1 million hectares of forest disappearing each year.
It is estimated that 50 million cubic meters of illegally cut logs are lost each year, causing the state loses of about Rp 30 trillion every year.
Prakosa has often blamed Malaysia as the buyers of illegally- cut timbers from Indonesia as well as the transit point for smugglers to transport the timbers to such countries as China, Thailand and Vietnam.