| BY Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, April 28 (ANTARA) - Long ago, the four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan island whose total land was about 550,000 sq km, were covered with vast forests and rich in mineral resources, a bounty of God which tickled the mind of businesses to tap. No wonder, provinces in Kalimantan have since the era of former president Soeharto become the target of various mining firms and timber tycoons who ran both legal and illegal businesses to exploit the resources, including mining deposit and forests, which are known as the 'lung' of the world. However, the glory of Kalimantan's forests is now only a story of the past as they have been damaged by logging activities, slash and burn practices, forest fires, mining activities and land openings for plantations. A total of 1,236 mining firms and 537 oil palm plantation companies are believed to have operating illegally in Central, East and West Kalaimtan provinces since in the past 10 to 15 years. As a result, the illegal operations of the companies have caused estimated losses of about Rp311.4 trillion to the state, according to Raffles Panjaitan, director for forest investigation and protection of the Ministry of Forestry. Raffles Panjaitan said that of the total, Rp158.5 trillion losses were suffered in Central Kalimantan, Rp31.5 trillion in East Kalimantan and Rp121.4 trillion in West Kalimantan. He said that several of the companies are large-scale firms as they hold land concessions on thousands of hectares of land. Reports filed by district heads/mayors and governors indicated that these firms had violated their licenses in their operations. According to Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hassan a team of the forestry ministry and the Judicial Mafia Elimination Task Force have examined the findings based on the reports filed by the district heads/mayors and governor of Central Kalimantan province. Based on the reports, the minister said, there are 282 plantation companies which are operating without a license on lands covering 3,934,963 hectares, while the number of illegal mining companies reaches 629 units which operate on a land of 3,570, 518.20 hectares. The joint team, namely the ministry of forestry team and the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force, carefully studied the reports. The joint team, the minister said, had examined nine companies opening up land for mining exploitation in a forest protected area, namely PT BBP, PT AKT, PT BST, PT DSR, PT SKEJ, PT HM, PT KPS, PT RC AND PT KSK. Apart from that there are 54 plantation firms which have no licenses from the ministry of forestry with a total land exploitation area of 623,001 hectares. Of these areas, 5,000 hecrares are found in North Barito district, 20,000 hectares in South Barito district, 10,500 hectares in East Barito district. They are also found in Kapuas district (150,410 hectares), Gunung Mas district (83,770 hectares), Katingan district (71,900 hectares), East Kota Waringin district (107,276 hectares) Seruyan district (40,445 hectares), West Kota Waringin district (38,700 hectares) and Lamandau district (86,000 hectares). Other firms operating illegally are PT MASK (20,000 h), PT MSS (19,500 h), PT SP (15,000 h), PT RASR (20,000 h), PT KAL (20,000 h), PT DAM (20,000 h), PT ATA (15,000 h), PT TPA (15,000 h), PT MSAL (15,000 h), PT KKK (17,000 h), PT KDP (17,500 h) and PT GRMK (16,200 h). Forestry Minister Zulkifli said his side did disclose the full names of the companies for the interest of further investigation. "We do not disclose their full names because they are still at the level of investigation as there are indications of violations that should be followed up," the minister said. He said that in East Kalimantan, the number of problematic plantation companies reached 86 units with lands covering 720,829.62 hectares while that of mining is recorded at 223 units with a land of 774,519.45 hectares. In West Kalimantan, problematic plantation companies number 169 units with a total areas covering 2,145,846.23 hectares and mining firms are recorded at 384 units which an combined area of 3,602,263.30 hectares. The names of companies involved in East and West Kalimantan are not yet disclosed because they are still under investigation of the forestry ministry's working group in cooperation with the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force. To follow up the cases, the minister has formed a joint team which involved the ministry of forestry, the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Junior Attorney General for General Crimes, Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, the Ministry of Environment, the Higher Prosecutor Office and Regional Police. The joint team is formed to conduct examinations and investigations on violations in the exploitation of forest areas in the three provinces. The minister said that investigation would take three months. "I ask the team not to stop until it finishes its task," Zulkifli said. The ministry of forestry also asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to conduct examinations and investigations on alleged abuse of authorities, corruption and collusion by apparatuses in the regions regarding the issuance of licenses for the problematic companies. "We have priorities to the six districts," he said mentioning the initials of the districts as B and S in Central Kalimantan, K and K in East Kalimantan, and M and M in West Kalimantan. In the meantime, Achmad Santoso of the judicial mafia task force said the working group of the forestry ministry and the judicial mafia task force would recommend four points. The recommendation will include matters on provincial master plan, land border, formation of a organization, the strengthening of the capacity of the Forest Management Unit (KPH), integrated licensing and transparency of licenses on forest areas.***3*** |
Rabu, 27 April 2011
STATE LOSES RP311 TLN TO KALIMANTAN RESOURCE EXPLOITATION
Rabu, 12 Mei 2010
CRACK-DOWN ON FOREST CRIMES IN INDONESIA RUNS SLOWLY
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, May 12 (ANTARA) - Although the government has shown a serious will to eradicate illegal logging by forming a joint team of investigators to crack suspected cases, efforts to fight the criminal practice and enforce the law in the forestry sector still seems to be proceeding rather slowly. Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan even complained about the slow progress achieved in the fight against crimes in the forestry sector. The minister voiced the complaint when he received representatives of Southeast Asia Greenpeace in Jakarta on Tuesday. "I don't understand why efforts to enforce the law are running very slowly. We have fielded a joint team and a task force but forest crimes that happen in front of our very eyes seem so difficult to solve," the minister said. The Indonesian government is intensifying its efforts to fight illegal logging by involving a mafia eradication task force which is also investigating cases both in court and in the field. Last month, a presidential Judicial Mafia Task Force was assigned to look into lenient court verdicts so far handed down to illegal logging suspects while an Illegal Logging Mafia Eradication Task Force was also fielded to examine illegal logging practices in the field. The crack-down on forestry crimes was launched after President Susulo Bambang Yudhoyono repeatedly expressed concern about illegal logging cases. The president also called for cooperation with non-governmental organizations to help find ways to counter the predatory practice, saying that there was a mafia ring behind illegal logging. The government's joint team of investigators from the police force, prosecutor's office and the ministry of forestry focused its first phase investigations on alleged forest mafia cases in North Sumatra and Central Kalimantan provinces. "We have set 2010 as the year of law enforcement in the forestry field. In the first phase, investigations will focus on alleged forest crimes in North Sumatra and Central Kalimantan," Aulia Ibrahim, forest investigation and protection director of the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Preservation (PHKA), said last month. Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said on Tuesday that his ministry was investigating the case of two million hectares of forest whose function had been converted to an oil palm plantation and a mining business site. For the enforcement of the law, the forestry ministry will set up a special forestry task force which would reinforce the joint team of investigators from the forestry ministry, police, prosecutor's office and the Corruption Eradication Commission. The minister also asked the Greenpeace representatives to help monitor local governments in issuing licenses for the opening of a plantation and mining site. "On the issuance of a license for a land use, our position is at the end of the administrative process. Therefore, I cannot reject it if the local government has already provided a recommendation and the project is already equipped with an environment impact analysis and approved by the House," the minister said but admitted that he had not signed any request for a land conversion in the last seven months. In the meantime, Director General for Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Darori said the special forestry task force would do its best to maximize its findings about firms opening illegal oil palm plantation and mining site in the forest areas. He admitted that enforcement of the law had been running at the snail's pace but in the last four months the ministry of forestry had been maximizing its efforts to net forest squatters and to impose corruption crime charges on cases that caused losses to the state. "In Central Kalimantan, for example, about one million hectares of forest have had their function converted. If one hectare has the potential of 100 cubic meters of wood, the potential loss the state would have suffered is about Rp16 trillion. It is a corruption crime and there must be the party that has to be held responsible and pay the losses," Darori said. The forestry minister has sent circulars to all governors in the country to file a report on deforestation in their respective areas. The director general for forest protection and nature conservation will ask all governors and district heads to hold exposes and deliver presentations on the forest conditions before the minister of forestry, KPK and the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force. "The governor of Central Kalimantan has said that the North Barito and South Barito district heads refused to file forest reports. The governor of Southeast Sulawesi has also reported that there were four large scale mining firms which are doing exploitation without a license," Darori said. According to Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan only 24 percent or 43 million of 130 million hectares of primary forests in the country still remained. He said 40 million hectares were former production forests and half of them had been damaged or were in a critical condition. The rest was no longer forested land, he said. Large-scale deforestation reached its peak in 2001-2002 following the euphoria of regional autonomy at a destruction rate of 3.5 hectares per year. In order to overcome the critical forest condition in the country, Zulkifli Hasan said that his ministry was launching law enforcement and forest rehabilitation programs. The law will be enforced on illegal loggers and forest squatters. The ministry will continue to carry out its tree planting program with a target of one billion trees. With the program, Indonesia sets itself to reduce its gas emissions by 26 percent in 2020, the minister said. |