Papua illegal logging may involve senior officers

Tony Hotland and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Jayapura

Police are investigating the possible involvement of high-ranking police officers in illegal logging in Papua following the confession of a low-ranking officer who surrendered late last week after years on the lam.

National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung said on Monday that police investigators would seek more evidence and information on the involvement of more police in logging crimes in the country's eastern-most island.

"We're looking into the case. This guy is a key part of this case and we should first take his case files from the Sorong Prosecutor's Office," he said.

First Inspector Anshar Johar, a former officer of the operations division of the Sorong Police station, turned himself in last week after eluding an investigation into an illegal logging case that also involved then Sorong precinct chief Adj. Comr. Faizal Abdul Nazer.

The case surfaced when a timber businessman, Felix Welianto, complained that his logs were being kept as evidence without sufficient reason by police.

It turned out that Felix's logs were actually used by Faizal and Anshor to replace 12,000 cubic meters of illegally felled logs contained in a vessel, MV Africa, which the two were ordered to seize but later let go. Felix's logs were used so it would appear that the two had seized the logs on board the MV Africa.

When quizzed, the two said they let the illegal logs go after being ordered to do so by then Papua Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan because Rp 700 million had already been transferred into the account of the Papua Police deputy chief.

Feeling slandered, Tarigan investigated and found out that the transfer had been done in 1998 when Brig. Gen. Moersoetidarmo Moerhadi was the Papua Police deputy chief.

Faizal himself is now an investigator at the National Police and is awaiting trial since his case files have been declared complete by the Sorong Prosecutor's Office.

However, Suyitno said police would review Faizal's case files again to add necessary information that they wanted to get from Anshor, and complete Anshor's case files as well.

"Faizal's dossier was declared complete before Idul Fitri (on Nov. 14), but we'll examine it again. As for other high-ranking officers we find connected, we'll check their availability for questioning," asserted Suyitno.

Many have long claimed that police officers are actively and directly involved in illegal logging activities, which have contributed to massive deforestation in the country and caused numerous disasters.

Police, on the other hand, always refute such claims, saying that they will take stern measures against officers proven guilty of these acts.

While some say this case would help uncover police involvement, Papua Legislative Council deputy speaker Komaruddin Watubun said he was pessimistic and said that Anshor was being made a scapegoat to cover for high-ranking officers.

"There's no way that low-ranking officers like Anshor or Faizal would have the guts to do these acts if they hadn't received backing from people of a higher rank," Komaruddin told The Jakarta Post.

He added that the involvement of police was surprisingly obvious since many logs in Papua that had been stamped illegal just disappeared before being processed.

Apart from the fact that illegal logging has actually become a business for many police officers, Komaruddin said the reason why it was difficult to curb was because the central government did not have the will to combat illegal logging.