The Rumble in the Jungle
TWO high-ranking state officials are squabbling publicly over the issue of operations to eradicate illegal logging. Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban insists that National Police Chief Sutanto reevaluate the performance of the North Sumatra, Riau and Papua regional chiefs of police. Kaban has accused them of conducting operations against illegal loggers in a haphazard fashion, saying that not only was there a lack of coordination, but they encroached upon the authority of the Forestry Department.
All three police chiefs however have rejected Kaban’s claims and are sticking to their guns saying that they are determined to eradicate illegal logging even if it costs them their jobs. It is already common knowledge, however, that on the ground, the problem is a tangled and complicated web. Police officers and forestry officials collude and conspire in order to benefit from money derived from illegal logging practices.
July 17, 2007
THE meeting was held in the visitors’ room at the offices of National Police Chief, General Sutanto, on Wednesday last week. It was not a long meeting, lasting no more than 45 minutes. The guest, Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban paid close attention to Sutanto’s explanations about operations against illegal loggers carried out by police in different parts of the country. Seated beside Sutanto were Deputy Police Chief, Gen. Makbul Padmanag
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