Police intensify hunt for illegal loggers in Papua

Police intensify hunt for illegal loggers in Papua

Eva C. Komandjaja and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta/Jayapura

Police said on Friday they had arrested at least 25 suspects
accused of massive illegal logging in Papua and were looking for
five others, mostly non-nationals.

Among the detainees were Papua forestry office director Marthen
Kayoi and West Irian forestry office director Marten Luther
Rumadas, as well as a director of PT Wapoga Mutiara Timber, Tan
Eng Kwee, and the firm's operations manager, Agustinus Joumilena.

The arrests come just a week after a joint team set up by the
government launched Operation Hutan Lestari (sustainable forest)
to halt widespread illegal logging in Papua.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said
that Kayoi had been charged under Articles 50 and 78 of the
Forestry Law (No. 41/1999), and Articles 55 and 56 of the
Criminal Code.

Kayoi and Rumadas had issued IPKMAs (forest conservation
permits for local tribespeople), which were often misused for
illegal logging.

The central government considers the issuance of these permits
to be illegal as the prevailing law only recognizes an official
permit issued by the Ministry of Forestry in Jakarta.

However, a bylaw enacted by the Papua administration allows
the local forestry director to issue such forest conservation
permits.

Aryanto said that Tan Eng Kwee, a Malaysian national, and
Indonesian Agustinus Joumilena were among those suspected of
financing illegal logging in Papua.

Two other Malaysians on the list of suspects being sought by
the police for their alleged involvement in the crime were
identified by their initials as TSK and TTK.

Apparently believing that both TSK and TTK are living in
Indonesia, the police have banned the two from leaving the
country, Aryanto said.

He said that almost all those on the list of wanted suspects
were foreign nationals. "Only one of them is Indonesian. I don't
have precise information about their nationalities but most of
them are Malaysians," he added.

In Jayapura, Kayoi's lawyer, Budi Setyanto, said he has
submitted a request for the Papua Police to release his client
from detention, claiming that the Papua governor and the Papua
legislative council had guaranteed that the suspect would not
abscond.

Budi said the arrest of Kayoi violated legal procedures as the
offense with which he was charged was not actually a crime but an
"administrative error" that was being construed as being illegal.

The lawyer said he would file a request for a judicial review
with the Supreme Court to challenge the charges.

"My client issued the IPKMAs based on a circular issued by the
Papua governor, Articles 37 and 76 of the Forestry Law, and the
Special Autonomy Law (No. 21/2001)," Budi said.

So far during Operation Hutan Lestari, the police have managed
to confiscate 40,679 of logs and 5,669 cubic meters of processed
timber, as well as around 496 pieces of heavy equipment and four
barges.

The operation was launched after two non-governmental
organizations -- the Britain-based Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner, Telapak, revealed
findings that Malaysian businessmen along with Chinese and Hong
Kong companies collaborated with the Indonesian Military and
government officials to smuggle 300,000 cubic meters per month of
Merbau timber from Indonesia to China.