Kaban And Illegal Logging
PRESIDENT Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono formed the Illegal Logging Response Team in the Province of Riau. Over the past eight months, the police have carried out a war against illegal loggers in this province, famous for its sailboats. Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban, who is said to be close to a number of timber dealers there, accused the police of overstepping their authority: clamping down on businesspeople licensed to operate in the forestry business, and threatening the viability of the paper and pulp industry.
The forest in Riau is already bare. At least 3 million hectares—out of some 5 million hectares—of forest area in this province is now treeless. In addition to charging about 250 people as suspects, the police have also confiscated a “mountain of timber” or about 1 million cubic meters in the Gaung River, Indragiri Hilir. A number of giant paper factories are suspected of involvement in the operations of a deforestation “mafia,” causing the state to lose trillions of rupiah. The following is Tempo’s report from a forest in Riau.
September 11, 2007
AS far as the eye can see, there are stacks and stacks of timber. On both sides of the road, the piled logs resemble two never-ending hills. Riau Police, who last July cordoned off the area, calculated that there were at least 1,000,000 cubic meters of logs.
These mountains of timber are located on the banks of the Gaung River at Indragiri Hilir. At the site last Thursday, Tempo tried to measure the length of the stacked logs by riding a motorcy
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