Corrupt Indonesian police and government officials are blamed for continued illegal logging in the country’s national parks by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Indonesian environmental organisation Telapak.
In a report issued last week the groups accuse Indonesia’s government of failing to protect Tanjung Puting national park and failing to arrest the timber baron behind the illegal logging there.
EIA director David Currey said that despite government assurances made three years ago, illegal logging had increased.
Timber baron and member of parliament Abdul Rasyid has been named as being behind the illegal logging in Tanjung Puting national park. The EIA report presents evidence of his companies’ involvement with the logging and with three cargo ships carrying 25,000m3 of logs which were seized last year.
According to the EIA, the police failed to prosecute Rasyid’s companies, released the ships and auctioned the logs. Mr Currey said: “The complete failure of this government to protect Tanjung Puting is because it refuses to tackle corruption at the highest levels of political, military and enforcement elite.”
He has called on the Consultative Group for Indonesia to react to the government’s failure.
