Indonesia: Old laws of military dictatorship days still cause deforestation

Legal experts say the 2008 Law on Non-Tax Sate Revenue and previous
legal instruments originate from the utilization of forest areas for
development purposes other than forestry.

Tracing back, the substance
of such policies was established during the New Order period under
then president Soeharto. It is still fresh in our minds that Soeharto
was so powerful that all ministers, legislators and high-ranking
officials had no courage to oppose any policies or decisions he made
— including those associated with forestry. All they could do was
just say “yes” without being aware that the policy or legal instrument
they unanimously agreed on without reservation would later cause
ecological disasters, such as landslides and floods.

Take the 1970 Law
on Forest Concessions and the Forest Product Levy for example. This
legal instrument, issued to underpin the implementation of the
capital-oriented development policy, paved the way for the over
exploitation of forests in Indonesia. Under the regulatory framework,
forest concessions were issued only to relatives and those close to
Soeharto. The granting of forest concessions by Soeharto was not based
on transparency, but through what is known as corruption, collusion
and nepotism (now referred to as KKN). The Soeharto legacy of legal
instruments on forests and forestry apparently remains deeply
ingrained in most authorities, government officials and lawmakers, and
has been reflected in the poor law enforcement regarding environmental
violations. Indonesia should learn from the erroneous policies or
legal instruments that former President Soeharto issued and should not
repeat the oversight, especially in regard to forestry. An
uncontrollable exploitation of forests even under the pretext of
development or poverty alleviation can not be tolerated.
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20090102.F04&irec=3

— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com

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