Malaysia protests over RI's timber allegation
Malaysia protests over RI's timber allegation
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia has criticized Indonesia's move to urge the European Union (EU) to stop importing Malaysian wood products, a report said.
Lim Keng Yaik, primary industries minister, said on Saturday that Kuala Lumpur would send a protest note to Jakarta, rejecting the allegation that its wood products are made from illegally- felled Indonesian timber.
Indonesia has asked the EU to reject wood-related products from Malaysia because most of them are believed to be made from logs derived from illicit sources, forestry minister Muhammad Prakosa had last said Tuesday.
Lim denounced the charge.
"I think the minister (Prakosa) maybe new and frustrated because he cannot do anything to stop illegal logging. If he is new and does not know to do his work, I forgive him.
"But to go and talk bad about other countries and ask the EU not to buy our timber is very bad," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.
Lim said Prakosa's statement showed that he had failed to stop illegal logging which resulted in a huge financial loss to Indonesia.
Instead, he has taken the easy way out by blaming Malaysia, the Malaysian minister said.
"That is why I told the EU that we certify our timber through an independent assessment like SGS International, to show that timber from Malaysia comes from a sustainable managed forest," Lim said.
Lim said Malaysia had several times tried to arrange a meeting with Prakosa but failed.
Bernama said Indonesia was insisting that EU countries should screen all timber products from Malaysia and to reject products that were suspected of using illegally cut logs from Indonesia.
Lim said that Malaysia earned 14.08 billion ringgit (US$3.7 billion) from timber exports in the first eight months of this year with exports for the entire year forecast at 21.12 billion ringgit.
In 2002, exports amounted to 16.14 billion ringgit based on steady global demand for timber and timber-based products.