Nature Alert: Lawmaker gets 4.5 years in forest conversion graft

Monday, 26 January 2009

Lawmaker gets 4.5 years in forest conversion graft

Lawmaker gets 4.5 years in forest conversion graft

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 01/28/2009

Former House of Representative Commission IV member Sarjan Tahir is sentenced to 4.5 years imprisonment and fined for Rp200 million for receiving a bribe to approve a project to convert a protected forest area in Banyuasin, South Sumatra, into a seaport.

Presiding judge Gusrizal told the Corruption Court that defendant Tahir was guilty of violating article 12 of the 1999 Corruption Law in receiving a Rp 5 billion bribe and also article 11 of the same law for accepting an addition Rp 170 million in connection to the Banyuasin conversion project.

"The defendant is certainly and legally proven to have committed primary and secondary graft," he said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Tahir's profession as a lawmaker was reportedly among the factors that had worked against him.

"The accused, however, had regretted his acts and admitted guilt, was cooperative throughout [the legal process] and upfront during questioning. These were among the factors that were to his defence," Gusrizal added.

Another member of the panel of judges, Andi Bachtiar, had nevertheless added that Tahir's crime was not a solitary one.

"There is close cooperation between House members and the South Sumatera regional government," Bachtiar said, referring to other implicated officials, namely legislators Yusuf Erwin Faishal, Azwar Chesputra and Hilman Indra, as well as former South Sumatera governor Sjahrial Osman and businessman Chandra Antonio Tan.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/28/lawmaker-gets-45-years-forest-conversion-graft.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.