The Rape of Merbau
Merbau wood illegally logged in Papua flows freely all the way to China causing trillions of rupiah in losses to the state. Alas, the backers are yet to be investigated, let alone captured.
Tempo
March 1, 2005
THE piles of felled merbau are like a mountain in Zhangjiagang Port, Shanghai, China. From the sea, they look like rows of chocolate hills on the beach near the Yangtze River. To circle round the “merbau hills,” you must take a vehicle. In this port large-scale sales transactions also take place every day.
Nearby, to the south of Shanghai, lies a small town that is the center of log processing, transforming the merbau wood into luxur
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