Report by the Environmental Investigation Agency & Telepak

Extract: Official complicity

For the full report, see:
http://www.eia-international.org/files/reports93-1. pdf

Companies involved in timber theft from Papua are aided every step of the way by officials from the military, police and forestry department, as long as the requisite bribe is paid.

The military in Papua are involved in every aspect of illegal logging. Several forestry concessions in the province are linked to military foundations, notably the company Hanurata, which controls five concessions in Papua and shares its headquarters in Jayapura with a detachment of troops from the army’s special forces.

Military personnel are frequently employed as security for logging operations. One timber dealer based in Jakarta told EIA/Telapak

investigators that he had 30 soldiers on his payroll to secure his illicit forest concession.

The army is also used to intimidate local communities opposed to logging operations on their lands. A report by human rights observers documented widespread logging-related abuse by troops stationed near Jayapura. The abuses involved intimidation, assaults and rape.

Navy forces operating in the eastern waters of Indonesia have won plaudits for intercepting a series of vessels carrying illegal logs from Papua. Yet in many cases such seizures are carried out when the owner of the timber has underpaid the navy for protection of the shipment. An additional fee is then required to free the ship.

The navy is also used by powerful timber bosses to disrupt the smuggling operations of rivals. In addition to the armed forces, both forestry officials and police are implicated in illegal logging activities.

In January 2002 four vessels loading illegal merbau logs near Sorong were detected, yet all but one eluded capture. Investigations into the case reveal the role played by police and forestry officials in allowing the vessels and their cargoes to escape.