Indonesia: New Illegal logging bill aims to put more teeth in toothless system

The Ministry of Forestry hopes that a bill on illegal logging that
would empower law enforcers to deal with errant investors and corrupt
officials can be passed next year. “The bill is intended to clamp down
on offenders in the forestry sector,” said Awriya Ibrahim, director
for investigations and forest protection at the ministry. Awriya said
the bill would extend to investors and officials who turn a blind eye
to violations. “It is pretty hard to deal with investors who break the
law, but we hope that the new bill can help us bring them to justice,”
he said. According to the 1999 Law on Forestry, violators face a
maximum of 15 years in prison. A minimum sentence, however, is not
specified. He added that the bill would complement the current
forestry law instead of rendering it useless. “The current law on
forestry provides only a maximum jail term for illegal loggers,” he
said. “The judges are limited by that, so we cannot blame them if
offenders get away with light sentences. A judge could sentence a
violator to two or three months in prison even if prosecutors ask for
six years,” Yuyun said. Awriya said the government has already handed
the bill over to the House of Representatives. “We are now waiting for
their next step,” he said. “We hope that the process can be finalized
next year, but that is up to them.” Yuyun Kurniawan, a forest research
coordinator from the non-governmental organization Titian Foundation,
said the bill provides minimum jail terms for forestry-related
offenses. Darmawan Liswanto of the Orangutan Conservation Services
Program, who was involved in the drafting of the bill, said the
emphasis of the bill was on the empowerment of civilian investigators
and the streamlining of bureaucracy. “The upcoming law on illegal
logging would give civilian investigators more authority to report
straight to prosecutors without having to go through the police,”
Darmawan said. He said that under the current forestry law, civilian
investigators have to report to the police if they want to investigate
further. “Such a setup extends the whole process because the police
are not as familiar with the cases as the civilian investigators,” he
said. “The proposed bill provides a mechanism that can help the police
finish their investigations faster.” He said that the drafting of the
bill started in 2005, but progress was slow.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/article/4405.htmlhttp://naturealert.blogspot.com/2008/12/ministry-urges-passage-of-forestry-bill.html

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