Timber firms halt work due to conflicts with locals

JAKARTA (JP): At least 50 timber companies have stopped their logging activities due to security uncertainty and growing conflicts with local communities, according to the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI).

Association chairman Adiwarsita Adinegoro said the local residents not only claimed ownership of the association members forest concession areas but also often threatened their workers.

"The government must act immediately to solve the land disputes with local communities, otherwise more companies will have to stop their logging operations, causing a severe shortage in the supply of logs to the country's wood-based industries," he said as quoted by Antara on Thursday.

He declined to name the 50 timber companies, which control about 10 million hectares of forest areas in Irian Jaya, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

According to official data, more than 80 percent of the country's forest areas area are controlled by the family and close friends of former president Soeharto. Many parts of their concession areas overlap with local residents' farm land but they often took over the areas without giving any compensation. The residents could do nothing but accept their presence due to threats from security guards at the timber companies.

With the downfall of Soeharto in late 1997, and the rise of a more democratic government, people began to feel more courageous about expressing their opinions and voicing their demands, albeit at the risk of violence.

"Most of the logging companies operate in Papua, where investment in the logging business amounts to Rp 535 billion (US$72 million). They can no longer operate because of disputes with the locals," the association's chairman said, adding that the conflict with the local residents could severely affect the country's log production target.

Earlier last month, some 77 loggers in East Kalimantan threatened to close down their operation in response to continued conflicts with local communities.

The companies said local people in East Kalimantan's Kutai and Bulungan districts had taken over some of their heavy equipment and demanded compensation amounting to billions of rupiah.

Separately, representatives of 12 villages in Rambang Lubai in the Muara Enim regency of South Sumatra, met senior officials of the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations here on Friday to demand the return of their land now under the control of PT Musi Hutan Persada (MHP), an industrial estate developer partly owned by Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana.

The villagers also demanded Rp 301 billion in compensation for the loss, which occurred due to their inability to produce any crops since the company took over their land.

The group's spokesman, Junial Komar, said MHP annexed their land in 1991 without an initial announcement or compensation and refused to negotiate with the locals.

"The military and police officers guard the estate and always interfere whenever we try to bring the case to the company's management," he said.

MHP, which is also partly owned by timber magnate Prajogo Pangestu, manages some 193,715 hectares of industrial forest area to supply pulp company PT Tanjung Enim Lestari, jointly owned by several Japanese investors. (cst/01)