Indonesia's President Blames "Greedy Neighbors" For Deforestation

[hatrack]

"It was difficult to fight the widespread illegal logging across Indonesia and neighboring countries were to blame for encouraging the problem, President Megawati Soekarnoputri has said. Those countries continued to demand Indonesian forest products and did not care whether they came from, Megawati told a gathering of local rattan and marble businesspeople in Karang Song village, Indramayu, West Java, on Saturday.

"We are not blind to the fact that neighboring states have greedy eyes on our forests and are using all means, including illegal ones, to get their products," she said. Megawati was responding to a complaint from the businesspeople over their difficulties in getting raw materials because of widespread illegal logging.

However, she stopped short of naming the neighboring countries in question. Last February, Indonesian Minister of Forestry Mohamad Prakosa called for a worldwide boycott of wood products from Malaysia, which he accused of continuing to buy illegal logs from Indonesia.

Malaysia was the biggest buyer of Indonesia's illegal logs and had refused to act to solve the problem, Prakosa said. Companies in that country had used illegal ramin hardwood from Indonesia for furniture production, he said. Megawati said she had ordered the National Police to cooperate with the Indonesian Military (TNI) to crack down on illegal loggers."

EDIT

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=31516