Nature Alert: Police allegedly involved in illegal logging

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Police allegedly involved in illegal logging

Police allegedly involved in illegal logging

Tue, 01/26/2010 12:14 PM | The Archipelago

PEKANBARU, Riau: Two police officers are being investigated for their alleged involvement in illegal logging in Palalawan, Riau.

They were found marshalling a truck with 5 tons of timber believed to be accrued from a conservation forest.

Palalawan Police chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Arie Rachman Nafarin said the two policemen had vehemently denied their involvement.

"Both insisted the load had not been illegally logged. They claimed the timber was from an area owned by a resident they knew," Arie said.

Despite their claims, Arie said that the two officers were being investigated as they did not have any documents warranting the timber or its transport.

"They are liable for criminal charges and I will not protect police officers implicated in wrongdoings," he said. - JP

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/26/police-allegedly-involved-illegal-logging.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.