Indonesia: Nation of forests given for bribes soars to new heights in upcoming election

Environmental group Greenpeace urged Indonesia’s election watchdog
Thursday to investigate funding for political parties linked to
deforestation ahead of parliamentary polls in April. About 40
Greenpeace activists carried a banner saying, “No Forests for
Elections — Stop Deforestation” in front of the election committee
(KPU) office in Jakarta. “We call on the KPU to check which parties
use funding from deforestation,”

Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest
campaigner Bustar Maitar told AFP. Maitar said there was a “strong
link” between political funding and deforestation, although he
provided no evidence. “We fear that the funding comes at the cost of
big companies getting the rights to destroy the forests. Many leaders
of the political parties are government officials,” he said.

Greenpeace said Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil,
was destroying its rain forests faster than any other major forested
country. Tropical forest destruction is responsible for nearly a fifth
of global greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, making Indonesia
the world’s third biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind the United
States and China. The forestry ministry was unavailable to comment on
the allegations.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hq4_XfRMs7bgET3kNWokqgc0KY0A