Guest guest Posted July 2, 2004 Report Share Posted July 2, 2004 ***************************Advertisement*************************** TechCentral http://star-techcentral.com ***************************************************************** This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my) URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/7/2/nation/8351242 & sec=nation ________________________ Friday July 2, 2004 Illegal loggers may face death BY TEOH TEIK HOONG KUALA LUMPUR: Illegal loggers in Indonesia, who are blamed for the forest fires that caused haze in neighbouring countries, may face the death penalty when a proposed interim law is passed and signed by Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The legislation will also impose a minimum jail sentence of 12 years for those found guilty. The death sentence is the maximum penalty. Indonesian Minister of Environment Nabiel Makarim said this harsh penalty was proposed to also cover those found guilty of starting forest fires. “Illegal logging and forest fires to us are the same. When forests are cleared, the land is prone to fires. “Present laws are not enough as the penalties are too small. The heavy penalty is to deter anyone thinking of clearing forests illegally or starting a fire,” he said at the Indonesian Embassy here yesterday. Nabiel said the proposed legislation was being drafted by the country & #8217;s Forestry Ministry. He said because of reformation in the country, there was a long queue of legislation to be passed in Parliament. The proposed interim legislation would be a stopgap measure, according to Nabiel. “Based on the seriousness of the current situation, we want to introduce the new interim law which can be enforced while waiting for the actual legislation to be passed in Parliament. “All we need is for the President to sign it,” he said. Nabiel was not able to provide a time frame for the legislation to be signed, as there was opposition to this proposal from various parties. On Indonesia & #8217;s reluctance to ratify the Asean Agreement on Trans-boundary Pollution, Nabiel said they wanted the treaty to cover the management of tropical forests in Asean. <p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.