Jakarta - corruption fuels Indonesian forest fires

August 13, 2005

Saturday August 13, 2005 - The Star

Corruption fuels Indonesian forest fires

JAKARTA: Corruption and law enforcement problems are frustrating efforts to

bring to justice plantation companies accused of causing forest fires in

Indonesia, environmentalists said yesterday.

They said big palm oil producers in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan

regions have for years used the slash-and-burn method to clear land for

their plantations but little action had been taken by the government to stop

the practice.

Many of the palm oil plantations are owned by businessmen from Malaysia,

where anger has been mounting over the smothering haze caused by the forest

fires in Indonesia.

“Clearing land by burning is the cheapest method. They don't have to use

heavy equipment or pay many workers to do the job,” said Farah Sofa, an

activist with Walhi, Indonesia's leading environmental watchdog.

A 1999 law on forestry allows companies to use fires to clear land if they

obtain a permit from local authorities. The problem is that permits are easy

to obtain, Sofa said.

Walhi's investigation showed that 80% of forest fires originated from

plantations, Sofa said.

The watchdog has sued 84 plantation companies for intentionally causing

forest fires but courts have thrown out the charges, citing lack of

evidence, said Ruly Syumanda, the group's forest campaigner in Riau province

on Sumatra.

“Corruption and collusion is rampant. It's become public knowledge and no

longer a secret,” he said.

Forestry ministry spokesman Masyud said plantations were partly to blame but

were not the only culprits.

“The plantations are partly to blame. We are trying to identify companies

responsible for the fires. But they are not the only ones to blame. Local

people have also engaged in clearing land using fires for farming,” he said.

In 2001 the government brought 12 plantation companies to court but only

four were found guilty, each fined between 80 million rupiah (RM30,586) and

100 million rupiah (RM38,232). A Malaysian company manager was also

sentenced to two years' jail. – AFP

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