Wednesday 7 April 2010

SBY orders taskforce to handle illegal logging mafia

PERSONAL NOTE: The President makes many such claims. Either he is not sincere or, his Ministers ignore him. The result is the same - business as usual fro the loggers.
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SBY orders taskforce to handle illegal logging mafia

Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Wed, 04/07/2010

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seems eager to prove his commitment to tackling climate change and corruption all at once, as he now orders the Taskforce against Court Mafia to probe into illegal logging mafia practices.

The President expressed his concern here Wednesday over illegal logging practices in the country, saying he believed it remained rampant because of the role of judicial mafia in the forestry sector.

“The Taskforce against Court Mafia must reach out to the sector so that we can control and process, as well as end forestry crimes or reduce them significantly,” the President told a press conference in Halim Perdanakusumah Airport before his departure to Hanoi, Vietnam, for the 16th ASEAN Summit.

“I hereby underline the importance of preserving our forests. And it applies on all Indonesia’s provinces and law enforcement institutions to continue measures to eradicate illegal logging,” he added.

The Taskforce against Court Mafia is a presidential team he set up in early January to tackle with “big fish” cases involving so-called mafia in the country’s judicial system.

Within two months of its operation it has managed to unveil two major cases, namely the luxurious treatments given to certain inmates in the country’s penitentiaries and recent finding of alleged mafia syndicate in the tax office.

The President has now seemed to rely on the taskforce to disclose other big mafia cases plaguing the country, including that in the forestry sector.

He has specifically addressed the issue of illegal logging twice over the last few days, firstly raising it again in a Cabinet meeting on Monday, when he told law enforcement institutions and heads of regional administrations to take serious actions against illegal logging.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/07/sby-orders-taskforce-handle-illegal-logging-mafia.html