Indonesian firm involved in Suriname deforestation

Indonesian firm involved in Suriname deforestation

By Santo Koesoebjono

WASSENAAR, The Netherlands (JP): Weak law enforcement is
facilitating the rising tendency of logging in Suriname, a
country in northeastern South America that is four times the size
of West Java province.

"We still have a huge area of forests. So why worry about
deforestation?" a government official said in Paramaribo
recently.

Logging is on an upward trend in Suriname but, unfortunately,
statistics prove unreliable to scrutinize this trend.

A local consultant said that unscrupulous logging has caused
erosion as fertile topsoil runs into rivers during the rainy
season. This will have a serious impact on the environment of
fish.

Fish is one of the four main natural resources in Suriname,
together with bauxite, gold and wood.

Concern about deforestation is intensifying following a
tremendous row, political controversy and social unrest in 1993
caused by plans of Indonesian logging company Mitra Usaha Sejati
Abadi (MUSA).

The company entered Suriname on the invitation of a former
minister of social affairs, who is of Javanese origin and who
claimed to have a good contact in Jakarta's political circle. As
the Suriname government was in need of financial resources, the
intent of MUSA to invest US$1.5 billion, including $1.2 billion
allocated for businesses in the forestry sector, was very much
welcomed. The company stressed it would process the logs before
exporting them. This value-added activity was expected to provide
work for both Suriname and Indonesian workers.

MUSA's hunger for logs was enormous. Following the
investigation of the Network for Forest Conservation in
Indonesian (Skephi) in early 1996, MUSA established 69 shadow
companies, of which 58 were designed to operate in forestry.

Because, according to the law, a concessionaire can have a
maximum of 150,000 hectares, the 58 shadow forestry companies
would be able to control a total area of about 8.7 million
hectares -- more than half of Suriname's total land area of 14
million hectares. The company's greed in wanting such a huge area
of virgin forests caused tumult and protests not only in Suriname
but also in international forums.

The commotion escalated, with an appeal by former Indonesian
president Soeharto during a state visit to Suriname in 1995, that
Indonesian companies limit logging there, while at the same time
he was aware that one of his relatives had a share in MUSA's
holding company. Even more surprising was a statement by a
Suriname president at the end of an Indonesian visit in October
1997, that Indonesia would support its private companies to
undertake activities in forestry in Suriname (Republika, Oct. 16,
1997).

Forests Monitor of 1998 noted that forest exploitation in
Suriname is restricted to the forest belt of about 2.4 million
hectares in northern and coastal parts, and about 11 million
hectares of interior forest should be left intact.

Since 1994, a large number of local and foreign companies have
been awarded concessions. Besides MUSA, there is a second
Indonesian company, Suri Atlantic, and a third, Barito, which
sought to obtain a concession of 600,000 hectares.

Then there is Malaysian company Berjaya. "Pressure is still on
to open up large forest areas to foreign companies," says Forests
Monitor.

There are also hundreds of local companies that operate small
concessions with areas of up to 50,000 hectares, besides
Bruynzeel which has a concession of 460,000 hectares.

In the meantime, MUSA has silently abandoned its unprofitable
area in the west of Suriname. At present it is running three
obscure operations in Nassau, Kaiser and Goliath in eastern
Suriname and a sawmill where local and Indonesian workers are
employed.

The Forest Act of 1992 dictates an integrated logging and
timber-processing scheme. This means that next to having 150,000
hectares, the maximum limit of a concession, a company is
required to have the necessary equipment, such as sawing machine,
bulldozers and processing facilities.

However, the enforcement of this law leaves much to be desired
due to low pay and an inclination toward bribery at all levels of
personnel, as well as a lack of manpower and material.

The forest rangers employed by the National Forestry
Department, for example, are underpaid and are equipped with no
more than two four-wheel-drive Land Rovers. The number of
checkpoints has been reduced from 52 to six because many
Amerindian families to which forest rangers mostly belong were
killed during the past internal war.

It is, therefore, obvious that the number of logs transported
out of the concession areas is underregistered and consists of
protected species. De Ware Tijd local daily reported on Feb. 15
that Malaysian company Berjaya, together with a Chinese-Suriname
company, exported 13,000 cubic meters of unprocessed logs to
China under the very nose of the Forestry Department. Berjaya
promised to invest in the wood processing industry since it is
prohibited to export logs, but the promise has yet to be
fulfilled.

The practices of local and foreign companies are similar as
law enforcement is either nonexistent or weak. Tjon, a senior
forestry expert at the Center for Agricultural Research (Celos),
said that most local concessionaires have no machines or means of
transport. This gives an opportunity to new investors who can buy
machines or trucks to exploit the concessions. The
concessionaires permit them to log and transport the wood in
exchange for a commission.

It is evident that this method gives much leeway for incorrect
declaration of the volume and types of timber transported.

However, not all wrongdoing can be attributed to
concessionaires and operators or traders of logs. The outdated
1947 tax law provides opportunities to groups of entrepreneurs
and army officers to enrich themselves. The companies fronting
for them can enjoy five years of tax breaks and the average
retribution per log is five Suriname guilders, which is worth
less than 1 U.S. cent.

These companies also purchase timber from other concessions.
This frequently happens with poor indigenous Amerindian
villagers, who by tradition manage forests collectively. The
forests were in the past awarded as "a gift from the queen of the
Netherlands".

"They lived in harmony with nature. At that time these people
only had, say, an ax to fell a huge tree, which took quite a
while, in order to build a canoe once a year," said Tjon. He adds
that poverty drives people to fell trees indiscriminately.
Eventually this method will socially and ecologically cost the
local people more than selective logging, which would spare
unmarketable tree species.

The need for cash to buy rice and cooking oil make these
people susceptible to the wishes of the companies. They rent
equipment from these companies, and unscrupulous and unselective
chopping starts. At the end, these companies purchase the logs
felled in these communal concessions. When the money earned is
consumed, these people will find out that they have destroyed
their natural assets, the forests, and nothing is left for their
further livelihoods.

Although the Suriname government has agreed to compensate each
affected community with a piece of land, this has not been
implemented. The methods applied over several years by these
Asian companies has become a pressing concern of nature
conservation groups worldwide. The issue becomes more complicated
because some members of the former and current governments are
involved in this form of uncontrolled logging operations.

As the maximum duration of a concession is 25 years, no
company bothers with reforestation. Government incentives are not
provided. The practices in Suriname show how conflicts can arise
when external forces disturb the harmony.

Celos' senior forestry specialist Tjon says conflicts take
place within communities and even within families between the
elderly who want to keep the environment intact and the younger
generation which is more interested in modern consumer goods. A
Suriname professor at the University of Amsterdam laments that
the people are very disappointed by the ruthless logging of
Indonesian companies. It has become a socially sensitive issue
because people of Javanese descent constitute the third largest
group (20 percent of the 400,000 population) in the nation.

The arrival of Indonesian investors seven years ago was
regarded by most Surinamese as assistance to the development of
the country from their "big brothers".

It is ironical to note, as Skephi reports, that MUSA is the
Indonesian name for prophet Moses, who was the savior of his
people. Instead, MUSA represents a new form of "South-South"
exploitation, besmirching therefore the goodwill of the
Indonesian government in the international community. It is hoped
that current and next reform governments will bring an end to
these malpractices.

Santo Koesoebjono is economist-demographer based in the
Netherlands. He recently visited Suriname.