KL lashes out at Jakarta, activists over illegal timber

KL lashes out at Jakarta, activists over illegal timber

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia on Friday slammed Jakarta for trying to undermine its
wood exports and accused U.S. activists of tarnishing its image
in a report alleging large-scale smuggling of Indonesian illegal
timber.

The report -- released this month and a focus of major United
Nations environment talks here -- was based on "half-truths and
ill-conceived, sweeping conclusions that were taken out of
context," Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik charged.

"I wish to point out that the allegation of large-scale
laundering of Indonesian logs and timber and more so with
government's complicity is totally unfounded," Lim told a news
conference.

"We believe this was done with malicious intent to put
Malaysia in the bad light," he added.

The study, Profiting from Plunder, was compiled by the
independent Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and its
Indonesian partner Telapak, who said it was based on two years of
investigation.

The EIA said it showed how endangered ramin wood was smuggled
from Indonesia into Malaysia with false documentation to be made
into furniture for export.

It alleged that local officials were facilitating the illegal
trade and urged the United States to impose trade sanctions on
Malaysia.

Indonesia meanwhile, called on the European Union (EU) to
boycott Malaysian wood products, saying the country was the
largest recipient of illegally-logged Indonesian timber.

"They smuggle the wood, then 'wash' it in Malaysia and export
it everywhere. This is an unfair practice," forestry minister M.
Prakosa told reporters in Jakarta.

Ramin is a light-colored tropical hardwood native to the
peatswamp forests in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Indonesia banned the export of ramin in August 2001 under the
UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) but Malaysia can trade in ramin with a CITES permit.

Malaysian minister Lim said Indonesia's call for a boycott as
well as the distribution of the report at the conference of
parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) indicated
"malicious intention" to pressure Malaysia to ban ramin trade.

Ramin production in Malaysia is sustainable managed and there
was "no danger of ramin becoming extinct," he said.

A ban would undermine Malaysia's 1.5-billion-dollar furniture
industry and its timber exports because it is difficult to tell
ramin apart from at least five other wood species. One of them,
rubberwood, is used in 80 percent of Malaysian furniture, he
said.

Malaysia and Indonesia are the world's top two exporters of
tropical timber and last year exported timber and timber-related
products worth 16.5 billion ringgit (US$4.34 billion).

"I don't think the U.S. administration will be so stupid as to
approve the sanctions because the allegations are not real. It is
ill-intentioned to pick on us at this time," Lim told a news
conference.

"Can you blame me for suspecting there is an ulterior motive
whether by Indonesia or other exporting countries?"

Malaysia has banned the import of logs from Indonesia to help
it battle illegal logging but Lim said Jakarta lacked the will to
resolve the problem and has lax law enforcement.

"I am angry and running out of patience of trying to work with
Indonesia. They are not doing anything and their agency is
pointing their finger at us," he said.

Lim told AFP that Jakarta recently agreed to Malaysia's
request to revive bilateral forestry talks which was abandoned
five years ago but no date has been set.

"Of course, we acknowledged that some problems still exist,
considering the long as well as porous borders and coastlines
between Malaysia and Indonesia, which we believe have constrained
effective enforcement work," the minister said.

There had been 122 arrests involving illegal timber trade,
including 12 cases involving ramin, and offenders faced a
mandatory jail sentence, he said.

Lim will meet the EIA next Wednesday to clear the air.

Indonesia is home to 10 percent of the world's remaining
tropical forests but an area larger than Taiwan is being
destroyed each year through illegal logging, the EIA report said.