KL firms allegedly involved in illegal timber trade

JAKARTA (JP): Timber companies and military personnel in Malaysia are allegedly involved in an illegal timber trade in Tarakan, East Kalimantan at the border between the eastern part of Kalimantan and the Malaysian state of Sabah, a senior official said here on Friday.

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations said the Malaysian companies bought the illegal timber with the protection of the military.

"This illegal timber trading has been on since for last ten years. It has caused the Indonesian government between US$8 million and $10 million monthly in potential revenues from the forestry sector," he told a news conference.

According to him, up to 100,000 cubic meters of "illegal" timber are smuggled every month out of Kalimantan and into the Malaysian state via Tarakan,

He said the illegal timber business in Tarakan was strongly supported by military personnel from both the Malaysian and Indonesian army as well as corrupt officials of the local forestry office.

"In our raid on the illegal logging areas last week, we found bullet shells and military rations identical to those used by the Malaysian Royal Army," he said.

"If the Malaysian military was really present there, they were trespassing on our territory. I will seek clarification with the authorities in Sabah," he said.

Suripto said that a military operation involving one battalion of the Army Strategic Reserve Command conducted a raid on the perpetrators of the illegal logging last week in Tarakan at the behest of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

"The operation, however, was a failure because certain people apparently leaked plans of the raid beforehand and we could not apprehend the perpetrators," he said, adding that a lack of coordination with National Army Headquarters in Jakarta had caused a one-day delay in the raid.

He alleged that officers at National Army Headquarters, which controlled last week's operation, officials at the local forestry office and journalists with access to the information, were all potential suspects in leaking news of the raid.

Suripto said the Malaysian companies involved in the illicit timber trade were possibly operating as timber or pulp manufacturers.

He added that the Malaysian firms were involved in the illegal timber trade because they needed more logs to meet the higher demands of the Malaysian paper industry.

It is estimated that paper manufacturing industries in Sabah and elsewhere in Malaysia need about seven million cubic meters of logs per year, while the local timber companies can only supply about four million cubic meters per year, he said.

Suripto, however, declined to name the Malaysian companies, saying he still needed to obtain more evidence.

"I already have the potential suspects in mind. But I can't disclose who they might be now. Maybe later," he said.

He added that the Indonesian logging firms, some of which were allegedly in financial trouble and probably had their assets currently controlled by the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency, sold the timber on the black market to avoid taxes so that they could earn more of a profit.

He said Indonesian logging firms had allegedly cut the timber outside their own concession areas and sold the logs illegally on the border to the buyers, the Malaysian timber or paper manufacturing companies.

"They all are very well organized like the mafia. They wield great influence over the forestry offices and law enforcement authorities in their respective areas," he added.

He said corrupt personnel in the Indonesian army and police force had notoriously supported the illicit timber trade by protecting the operations and taking bribes. (cst)