Govt. criticized for trying to absolve forest violators

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.