SBY: Police, military involved in logging
SBY: Police, military involved in logging
Rendi A. Witular and Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Military and police personnel along with officials from the
ministries of forestry and immigration are all involved in the
lucrative business of illegal logging in Papua, President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono has proclaimed.
His statement, quoted by Ministry of Forestry MS Kaban on
Tuesday, drew immediate signals of apparent cooperation from the
mentioned institutions. Operations assistant to the Indonesian
Military (TNI) chief Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, said the TNI is
investigating whether their involvement was limited to their
personnel, or whether the institution itself was involved.
Minister Kaban said, "According to the President, personnel of
the eastern Navy, the police in Papua, the Trikora Regional
Military Command (based in Papua provincial capital of Jayapura),
local offices of the ministries of forestry and immigration in
Papua, all have indications of being involved in illegal logging
in Papua." He had earlier attended an unscheduled Cabinet meeting
on illegal logging.
The meeting followed on last week's revelations by the London-
based Environmental Investigation Agency and the Indonesian group
Telapak. It's report accused the TNI and other officials of
smuggling 300,000 cubic meters of timber per month from Indonesia
(mostly Papua) to China, with a value of more than US$1 billion.
Kaban on Tuesday named some of the business people allegedly
involved, with their main operations taking place in Papua,
Jambi, East Kalimantan, Dumai in Riau and North Sumatra -- but he
did not name any high ranking officials or military and police
officers.
"There's no way the TNI is not involved. The ship carrying the
illegal timber was guarded by warships," he said.
The President has instructed that an "integrated crackdown"
take place in the next two weeks, Kaban said, against all
suspected parties, which would cost some Rp 8 billion (about
$860,000).
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said apart from
cooperating in the crackdown, his office would conduct "shock
therapy" against personnel suspected of involvement in the crime.
A former police chief of Sorong regency in Papua and five of his
subordinates are on trial for alleged illegal logging in the
province.
Also on Tuesday deputy chief of detectives at the National
Police Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida said police are seeking funding
of Rp 48 billion a year in order to conduct six operations per
annum, or Rp 8 billion per operation, against illegal logging.
He said that with the Rp 8 billion spent in an earlier
operation, police had managed to recover around Rp 1.5 trillion
worth of illegal timber.