Malaysia, RI should join

Malaysia, RI should join
in tackling wood theft

Julian Newman and Hapsoro, Jakarta

You could be forgiven for never having heard of ramin. This
blond tropical timber is only found in the swamp forests of
Indonesia and Malaysia, and as its use is limited to a relatively
small number of products, such as picture frames and pool cues,
it is nowhere near as well known as more familiar timbers like
teak and mahogany.

Yet ramin is now at the center of an increasingly acrimonious
dispute at the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
currently being held in Kuala Lumpur, involving Malaysia,
Indonesia and the non-governmental organizations Telapak and the
Environmental Investigation Agency. At stake in this row are the
future success of emerging international efforts to control the
vast global trade in illegal timber and the survival of
Indonesia's dwindling forests.

So why all the fuss about ramin? In April 2001 the Indonesian
government placed the species on Appendix III of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the
international mechanism regulating cross-border trade in flora
and fauna. This move effectively banned the export of Indonesian
ramin, except for that from one certified concession in Sumatra.

Through this action the Indonesian government sought the
assistance of the international community to help curb the
rampant illegal logging sweeping the country. Fetching up to
$1,000 per cubic metre once processed and shipped to consumer
markets, ramin has been ruthlessly targeted by illegal loggers,
particularly in protected areas such as Tanjung Puting National
Park in Central Kalimantan.

Since the CITES listing came into force in August 2001
EIA/Telapak have been monitoring the effectiveness of the trade
controls, and have discovered serial rule-breaking and ramin
laundering by neighboring Malaysia, which threatens to undermine
attempts to preserve ramin trees in Indonesia.

EIA/Telapak's latest report on the illegal ramin trade,
entitled Profiting from Plunder, was launched at a press
conference in Jakarta earlier this month. It details how
Indonesian ramin continues to find its way onto world markets,
courtesy of smuggling and laundering syndicates centered on
Malaysia.

Posing as timber buyers EIA/Telapak investigators gained
access to the port of Pasir Gudang, in Johor Baru, Malaysia. Here
we observed larges amount of sawn ramin timber stacked up to dry
prior to export. The Malaysian shipping agent involved in the
operation said all the ramin had been smuggled from Indonesia and
was awaiting shipment to China.

He added that the ramin was "CITES-free" and that Malaysian
Certificates of Origin were issued for the timber to obscure its
origin. A port official stated that 4,500 cubic metres of illegal
Indonesian ramin pass through the port each month en route to
China. This volume exceeds the total domestic production of ramin
in Malaysia.

In the Malaysian state of Sarawak EIA/Telapak found evidence
of further ramin laundering. One local timber dealer revealed
that around 40 per cent of ramin products exported from Sarawak
were derived from illegal Indonesian timber, and told how
official papers to sanitize the stolen timber were easy to obtain
from the local authorities.

The release of our findings prompted a storm of criticism from
Malaysia. First on the attack was the counselor for the economy
and information at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, who was
quoted in the Jakarta Post as doubting the validity of the
EIA/Telapak report and threatening legal action against us. Such
comments are presumptuous, as it would be impossible for the
Malaysian authorities to have conducted a thorough investigation
into our findings in the two days between the launch of the
report and his response.

Next on the attack was the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC), the
chief apologist for the excesses of Malaysia's voracious logging
and wood-processing industry. In its response the MTC spoke of
"grossly overstated claims" by EIA/Telapak, and described our
report as "libelous and mischievous".

Yet it fails to undermine the solid evidence gathered by
EIA/Telapak. In explaining the laundering operation based in
Pasir Gudang the MTC claims that as the timber is in transit it
is not officially entering Malaysia and so is not the country's
responsibility, yet the shipping agent in the port offered to
supply Malaysian Certificates of Origin. It seems the concept of
transit in Malaysia is a movable feast.

Finally, Lim Yeng Kaik, Malaysia's outspoken Primary
Industries Minister weighed in claiming that EIA/Telapak have
"taken things out of context and at times falsified information
to make themselves heroes at our expense." Again specific
examples of such falsified information were conspicuously absent
from his diatribe.

Such a response by the Malaysian government and industry is
disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. It is always easy to
shoot the messenger than act on bad tidings. Yet there is
evidence that Malaysia has acted on EIA/Telapak information in
the past.

In May 2002 we exposed the large-scale smuggling of logs from
Sumatra to ports in West Malaysia, despite the existence of a log
export ban. This revelation prompted Malaysia to impose an import
ban on Indonesia logs the following month.

In 2003, when EIA/Telapak documented how log smuggling was
still continuing despite the ban, Malaysia tightened its rules.
To give due credit Malaysia has also made several seizures on
illegal Indonesian ramin. It is to be hoped that having vented
its spleen Malaysia will now conduct a full investigation into
our findings and tackle ramin smuggling.

Recently Indonesia has sought to make political capital out of
the exposure of Malaysia's role in laundering illegal timber.
While this is partly understandable, it is also a ploy to deflect
attention from Indonesia's abject failure to tackle illegal
logging and enforce its own forestry laws.

The illegal ramin trail starts in Indonesia. EIA/Telapak have
learned that all the illegal ramin flowing through Pasir Gudang
is controlled by one man -- known as "Jambi Lee". He orchestrates
ramin logging in an area around the Riau-Jambi border, owns a
fleet of 60 wooden ships to carry his contraband cargo to
Malaysia, and enjoys the protection of the local authorities.
EIA/Telapak have passed this information to the relevant
authorities in Indonesia and will be watching closely for
evidence of action.

Finally, EIA/Telapak investigations show how well organized
syndicates operating across international boundaries run the
global trade in illegal timber. The only solution is for
countries to work together to improve enforcement. Serious
ministerial talks between Indonesia and Malaysia would be a good
place to start.

Julian Newman is a Senior Investigator at the Environmental
Investigation Agency, a London-based NGO. Hapsoro is the Director
of Telapak, a Bogor-based NGO.