DOZENS of rafts crowded on the Timbal Rival at Sebuku in the East Kalimantan Regency of Nunukan. The rafts carried hundreds of 5-meter logs, neatly piled up, one on top of the other. Small sampans queued up to pass through. The rafts were waiting for ships that will carry the timber to Tawau, Malaysia.

Residents of Desa Sebakis in Sebuku call the rafts “floating warehouses.” They belong to a tauke (broker or agent) in Malaysia. Three ships a