Govt. criticized for trying to absolve forest violators

Apriadi Gunawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Medan/Jakarta

As many as 27 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in North Sumatra criticized the government for stating that the recent flash flood in the regency's resort town of Bukit Lawang, which killed more than 140 people, was a purely natural disaster.

NGO coalition spokesman Herwin Nasution, also the director of the North Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Forum on the Environment (Walhi), said that the government's statement was too premature.

"The government's abrupt announcement that the flash flood is a natural disaster was based only on video footage taken from a helicopter," he told reporters after a meeting with North Sumatra council on Thursday.

Minister of Forestry M. Prakosa, who, along with State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim, had separately made such a statement, has acknowledged that they were "a preliminary conclusion."

Herwin lashed out at the government for ignoring other possibilities of the cause of the flood, despite investigations by other parties.

"The preliminary investigation by our coalition and a team from the Office of the State Minister of the Environment revealed forest destruction in the upper reaches of the Bahorok River," he told The Jakarta Post.

The premature statement, Herwin said, is misleading as people would consider that the government was protecting illegal loggers, who are often backed by security and government officials.

The coalition cited data from the National Coordination Agency (Bakornas) which shows that there have been 647 disasters in the period 1998 to 2003 in Indonesia. As many as 85 percent were floods and landslides due to environmental destruction.

Councillor M. Yamin Lubis supported the coalition, adding that it was essential an independent team investigated the cause of the flood.

Antara reported that hundreds of cubic meters of logs piled in the Bukit Lawang site had been sold illegally to owners of timber plants.

"Much timber was sold at night," said Ikhsan Izka Rawi, a member of the Bahorok Flash Flood Crisis Center, without elaborating.

The flood swept away thousands of cubic meters of trees and logs. Some of the trees stumps and logs had been stamped "MK."

Ikhsan said that some security officers had sold the trees, which were taken by truck to certain timber plants close to Bukit Lawang.

A cubic meter of illegal meranti wood sells for at least Rp 750,000.

Residents of Bukit Lawang had expected local authorities to sell the fallen trees and logs legally so the revenue could be used to rebuild their town.

Minister Prakosa said that the fallen trees and logs are considered state assets, meaning they must be sold in a transparent bidding process and that the money should go to the state's coffers.