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.