Minister declares war against illegal levies

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo issued Thursday an instruction to all provincial offices of his ministry to fight against illegal levies in the forestry sector.

In his letter No. 1360/1997, issued on Wednesday, Djamaludin instructed provincial forestry offices throughout Indonesia to eliminate 14 illegal levies often imposed on forestry businesses.

"I have instructed all heads of provincial offices to eliminate all illegal levies and charges, which have been responsible for high costs in the industry," he told reporters.

He said the instruction letter was a follow-up of his statement early this month that his ministry had found 16 illegal levies in the forestry sector.

He revised that number to 14 as two other levies were those under the jurisdiction of other ministries.

Most of the 14 illegal levies were imposed by officials from provincial forestry offices when they made site inspections at various forestry firms or when they issued official letters for those firms.

Such illegal levies were common to speed up business processes with the authorities, Djamaludin quoted some forestry companies as saying.

"But I want to reiterate here that the Ministry of Forestry should never impose any levy on timber companies to facilitate permission for their activities," he said.

He stressed that there were only 11 legal levies outside taxes imposed by his ministry, as stipulated by Government Regulation No. 22/1997.

The 11 legal levies include a mandatory forest fee, a concessions fee, a forest industry fee, a bamboo concession fee, a rattan concession fee, a forest tourist fee and fees on tickets for forest recreation, national parks, forest reservations and marine recreation parks.

The other legal levies are fees on catching and delivering unprotected wild animals and flora, on catching protected wild animals and flora, and fines on violating forest exploitation regulations and on violating forest utilization regulations.

Djamaludin also urged forestry companies and other players in the forestry sector to report to his office any illegal levies imposed.

"I will not hesitate to punish any forestry official who is guilty of charging illegal levies to forestry companies," he said. (08)