RI urges global boycott on M'sian timber

RI urges global boycott on M'sian timber

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian government called for a worldwide boycott of wood
products from Malaysia on Thursday, arguing that the country
continued to buy illegal logs from Indonesia.

Forestry Minister M. Prakosa said Malaysia was the biggest
buyer of Indonesia's illegal logs and had refused to act to solve
the problem.

"That's why I call on governments such as those in the
European Union not to import any wood products from Malaysia as
they are using illegal logs from Indonesia," Prakosa announced
before attending a Cabinet meeting.

The minister said that Malaysia laundered illegal ramin
hardwood from Indonesia for furniture production.

"The Malaysian government even says that illegal logs in
Indonesia are legal in Malaysia," Prakosa stated, adding that the
government had repeatedly sent protests to the Malaysian
government.

"I have repeatedly said at many international fora not to buy
wood products from Malaysia because they are problematic," he
said.

According to Prakosa, Malaysia had also refused to sign a
memorandum of understanding on illegal logs.

Meanwhile, activists at a United Nations (UN) environmental
conference accused host-country Malaysia on Thursday of turning a
blind eye to large-scale smuggling of illegal timber from
Indonesia, provoking strong denials from Kuala Lumpur.

AFP reported that the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)
and several U.S. non-governmental organizations have called on
the U.S. to impose trade sanctions against Malaysia over the
smuggling of ramin hardwood, an endangered species found only in
Indonesia and Malaysia.

The evidence is documented in its report, Profiting from
Plunder," which details how ramin is allegedly smuggled from
Indonesia into Malaysia to be made into furniture for export with
false documentation and how local officials facilitated the
illegal trade.

"Sanctions are always a last resort but we want all trade in
ramin to be suspended for the time being until the Malaysian
government has shown concrete evidence that they have cracked
down on the illegal trade," EIA president Allan Thornton said.

The EIA distributed the report, a culmination of two years of
investigations by EIA and its Indonesian partner Telapak, on the
sidelines of the conference of parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD).

But Malaysian officials fought back at a news conference,
saying they had taken the necessary measures to curb the
smuggling of illegal timber from Indonesia.

"We have strengthened our laws and enforced the laws. As far
as Malaysia is concerned, illegal logging is not an issue... the
onus is on Indonesia to upgrade their laws," said Malaysia's
primary industry deputy secretary-general Suboh Mohamad Yassin.

Prakosa added that the Malaysians should not deny the report
as there was solid evidence of the activities of receiving
illegal ramin hardwood from Indonesia.

"Why should they deny it, when there is a lot of evidence
proving that they continue to receive our illegal logs," he said.

He also stated that the government was trying to produce a
single regulation to curb smuggling across the country.