Pristine forests story of the past

Indonesia's rain forests, along with Brazil's, are known as the lungs of the world. The condition of the country's forests continues to deteriorate as a result of illegal logging that has gone on for decades, consequently contributing to global warming.

EG Togu Manurung, in his article titled Radical measures needed to stop illegal logging (The Jakarta Post, Jan. 26) did touch on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's declaration of war on illegal logging on Nov. 11, 2004, in the Central Kalimantan city of Pangkalan Bun.

The President's declaration was made less than a month after he was inaugurated on Oct. 20, and this should have been swiftly used by his forestry minister to act in coordination with the National Police chief and attorney general. The President's first 100 days in office have, in fact, gone by without significant results in the President's war against illegal logging, other than that of announcing several illegal loggers had been reported to the attorney general.

Togu Manurung -- who did not mention it in his article -- may be aware of the fact that as a result of unchecked illegal logging on Sumatra island alone, the government is losing Rp 15 trillion a month (the Post, July 7) meaning the country is losing about Rp 180 trillion a year, which is equivalent to approximately US$20 billion!

What about on other islands like Kalimantan, Papua, etc., where the rate of destruction is far greater, meaning another tens of billions of dollars are being lost?

Therefore, I propose President Susilo consider a proposal to close down the Indonesian-Malaysian border for at least four months to stop logs being sent to Malaysian wood factories (Kompas, June 30). That proposal was made to teach the Malaysian wood producers that without a supply of logs from Kalimantan, their factories would go bankrupt.

This measure is intended to save our forests from absolute destruction and return our forests, if possible, to a pristine condition.

M. RUSDI, Jakarta