Six ships laden with illegal logs enter Malaysia daily

Rusman, The Jakarta Post, Samarinda, East Kalimantan

Six ships laden with illegal logs enter Malaysia territory daily from Indonesia, costing the Indonesian timber industry dearly, an official has said.

Nusyirwan Ismail, an official at the East Kalimantan Development and Social Welfare Office, recently lamented that no action has ever been taken by law enforcers, although the practice was so evident.

"I witnessed it myself in Tawao. Illegal logs from East Kalimantan were transported to Malaysia and were openly traded by Malaysian companies. Strangely enough, there have never been any steps taken by Indonesian officials to curb this practice," he said.

He estimated that every day there were six ships fully laden with illegal logs from East Kalimantan entering Tawao.

The illegal logs, still uncut, were believed to be transported from Berau regency in East Kalimantan.

"The logs, which are illegal, would be processed later into timber, ready to be certified and sold to various countries, legally," he said.

He said that there were two points used as the illegal trade routes, which are at Malinau regency's border with the Malaysian state of Sarawak and Nunukan, which borders Tawao. At the Nunukan border, ships carrying logs illegally always have two flags. When they are in Indonesian waters they would use the Indonesian flag and when they are in Malaysian waters, they would fly the Malaysian flag.

He could not estimate the losses suffered by the state, but certainly, the illegal trade has affected the Indonesian timber industry. The international market prefers the processed wood from Malaysia, because it is certified. While, the international market tends to avoid buying processed wood from East Kalimantan, because in most cases, it is considered illegal.

"Why is it that East Kalimantan is looked at as an environment destroyer by the international community? Not only that, they have also rejected wood from East Kalimantan which they say is illegal. That's clearly discrimination. Why is the Malaysian wood used in the timber industry never declared illegal?," he said.

Separately, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Syarifuddin said that it was not an uncommon occurrence anymore that Indonesian logs were entering Malaysia illegally every day. But the situation has not been taken seriously by law enforcers.

The illegal logging trade has strained relations between Indonesia and Malaysia, as Indonesia accused Malaysia of purchasing illegal logs from Indonesia.

Malaysian authorities have rejected the accusation.