Govt delays endorsing logging edict

Govt delays endorsing logging edict

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta

The government has delayed the issuance of a government
regulation in lieu of law (perpu) aimed at stopping illegal
logging due to fears about its possible impact on the social and
political situations.

The regulation, which was initially scheduled to be issued in
May, was planned as an emergency measure to stop rampant illegal
logging, which is considered the main factor behind the rapid
destruction of the nation's virgin forests.

Minister of Forestry Muhammad Prakosa said President Megawati
Soekarnoputri had dropped plans to sign the regulation in May,
saying that conditions were not conducive for the issuance of the
regulation and that the regulation could cause difficulties
during the upcoming presidential election runoff.

"It's a matter of momentum. I think the government will
probably issue it after the election. But we are still not sure
about that yet," said Prakosa after a meeting with the Indonesian
Association of Forestry Enterprises (APHI) on Tuesday.

Prakosa explained that the draft regulation had been draft and
finalized by the Ministry of Forestry, along with the State
Secretary, a couple of months ago.

A government report estimates that illegal logging has left 43
million hectares of land in a critical condition and caused the
nation to lose US$3.5 billion worth of trees every year.

The proposed regulation was expected to eventually be
converted into a special law on illegal logging, outside the
prevailing criminal law, which is considered to have failed in
preventing illegal logging.

According to Prakosa, the regulation would have enabled law
enforcement officials, under the command of the Ministry of
Forestry, to prosecute illegal loggers immediately after they
were arrested, and would allow the authorities to seize whatever
was used in the crime, including vehicles and boats used to
transport illegally cut logs.

Those suspected of illegal logging activities would be tried
by an special court specifically set up to handle such cases,
with convicted illegal loggers facing a maximum penalty of death.

The law would also allow law enforcers to arrest suspected
illegal loggers based solely on intelligence reports.

A number of environmentalists said they suspected the delay in
issuing the regulation was primarily intended as an incentive to
get the business community, including illegal logging businesses,
to fund the election campaign of a "certain" presidential
candidate.

Many illegal logging activities are reportedly backed up by
rogue elements of the armed forces and the police.

Elsewhere, Prakosa said the ministry would soon issue a number
of incentives to encourage businesses to invest in plantation
timber estates as part of the effort to develop sustainable
timber resources for the forestry industry.

Among the planned incentives were lifting the ban on the
export of logs felled in plantation timber estates, simplifying
the procedures for investing in the plantation timber sector, and
extending the length of the concessions plantation timber estates
to 100 years from the current 25 years.

Concessionaires would also be freed of the obligation to seek
approval from the Ministry of Forestry for their annual
plantation operation plans. At present, such plans must be
discussed and approved by the ministry prior to their
implementation.