Illegal logging rampant along Indonesian-Malaysian border

Illegal logging rampant along Indonesian-Malaysian border

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): The residents of Seriang
village, where people usually live in harmony, recently became
involved in a brawl with residents of a neighboring village.

The reason was that the stakes indicating the border between
this village and the territory of Malaysia were moved by illegal
loggers. Seriang village is one of the villages in Badau
subdistrict, Kapuas Hulu district, West Kalimantan.

Badau and Batang Lupar subdistricts share a land border with
East Malaysia (Sarawak). In these subdistricts, interstate
illegal logging is rampant because of the invisible state border.

Timber bosses (locally called cukong) from Sarawak cooperate
with certain businessmen and regional administration officials
and military or police officers in Kapuas Hulu and can therefore
freely run their interstate illegal logging businesses.

How does this kind of business come about? A study by a team
of students from Tanjungpura University (Untan) in Pontianak
shows that there are three stages involved: (1) approaches made
to village community figures; (2) surveys of the potential; (3)
logging and sawing; (4) transportation; (5) tallying and (6)
selling.

Before logging starts, the boss will meet all the community
figures in the villages where logging will be conducted.
Negotiations concerning what the village needs ensue.

Let's say a longhouse is needed. If the boss agrees to this
request, the villagers will allow logging in the forest area in
the village. Apart from building a longhouse, the boss also pays
the village Rp 25,000 to Rp 50,000 per cubic meter of timber
collected from this forested area.

Each month the boss also pays the village Rp 60,000 for each
log taken. The money is divided among all the families in the
village. If a village does not get this monthly compensation, it
gets, for example, Rp 1 million at the start of land clearing.
Payment is usually in Malaysian ringgit.

Then a survey is done of what types of commercial timber is
available. Generally, the types of timber preferred are red
meranti, white meranti, ramin, kalsaua, bedaru and mabang.
Tengkawang, which is protected, is also logged.

After the survey is completed, logging and sawing follows.
Illegal logging is found in Tangit I, Tangit II, Tangit IV,
Keladan, Guntul, Sumpak, Seraing, Tematu and Kapar villages, all
of which are in the subdistricts of Bada and Batang Lupar, Kapuas
Hulu, West Kalimantan.

The timber, after being sawn, is transported by bike, truck
or carried on a person's shoulders to the tallying site. If the
logging site is close to a river, the timber is transported by
boat. At the tallying site, the timber is sorted, given a code
and then measured.

Tallying is again conducted at the border between Indonesia
and Malaysia by the buyers, who generally come from Malaysia.
According to the Untan study there are 14 sawmill owners in
various villages in Batang Lupar subdistrict, six others are Sibu
residents in East Malaysia. Strangely, a company specializing in
land clearance for oil palm estates is also involved in the
timber business.

When everything is completed and a buyer is found, the timber
is transported by truck. Each day 50 to 60 trucks head for the
border area with Malaysia. Logs are usually transported on a raft
along Kapuas River and sold to various sawmills in Pontianak.

If there is no buyer for the timber, it is piled up until a
buyer comes along. There is a high demand for timber in this area
because of the low prices.

Almost 90 percent of the timber from the border area between
Indonesia and Malaysia is sold to buyers in Malaysia. This timber
is transported overland along a road built on land owned by
locals. Every truck using the road must pay Rp 40,000 to the
landowner. At the border area, the timber is transported to
Malaysia via a road passing through oil palm estates in Malaysia.

Trucks carrying wood from Malaysia freely enter Indonesian
territory. Collusion with Indonesia's customs and excise officers
at the border area makes this possible.

Once in Malaysian territory, the timber is collected by a
legitimate company. It is tallied, after which tax is paid to the
Malaysian government, legalizing the timber's entry into
Malaysia. No taxes are imposed on this timber in Indonesia.

There are various methods of illegal logging, one of them
involving oil palm estates. An Indonesian company, for example,
establishes an oil palm estate in the border area. The land
clearing contractor would be a Malaysian company. Locals then
consent to the presence of this oil palm estate because of rosy
promises made by the company. The site chosen would be one with a
big supply of timber. The timber is collected during land
clearing, after which the oil palm estate is simply abandoned.

Another method involves the establishment of a forest
management cooperative. In practice, the cooperative hires a
Malaysian contractor, a practice that will legalize tree felling.

Backing

Illegal logging in the border area between Indonesia and
Malaysia has been going on for a long time. This practice has
become more extensive since the economic crisis hit the country
in 1997. Illegal logging is difficult to eradicate because many
parties enjoy the benefits from this activity. Almost all
government officials authorized to eradicate illegal logging --
from the district head level up to the level of neighborhood
chief -- get a share.

It seems this illegal business will never be eradicated
because a number of top civilian officials and military or police
officers allegedly back it. Reportedly, a timber boss built a
regional administration office, and the fund allocated by the
government for the construction of this office building went into
the pocket of the head of this government office.

This dirty business is an open secret. However, if anybody
dares to report this illegal logging practice to primary
government offices, it is said that the person's life would be in
danger. That is why few community members have the courage to
report this insidious practice to related government authorities.

Obviously illegal logging has had a considerable adverse
impact. Losses have been inflicted on the state and serious
damage caused to the environment. As a result of illegal logging,
a number of villages will be flooded during high tide, with the
ecosystem of swampy forests being damaged.

In 1988, deforestation in West Kalimantan reached a level of
16.04 percent a year. The percentage has since increased,
especially because illegal loggers in Kapuas Hulu have encroached
upon the buffer forest zones in the conservation areas of
Sentarum Lake and Betung Kerihun National Park.

If the area around upstream Kapuas River is fully deforested,
the river will run dry during the dry season and overflow during
the wet season.

This impact will affect all West Kalimantan people, most of
whom depend on Kapuas River in their daily lives. If this illegal
logging is allowed to go on unchecked, whither is the sovereignty
of the Indonesian state in the eyes of Malaysian businessmen?

--Edi Petebang