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.