The Sarawak government has been challenged to make an open declaration that it would not tolerate the smuggling of illegal Indonesian timber into the state.

"The government must come down hard on the smugglers on both sides of Indonesia and Malaysia," said the DAP's Pending elected representative Violet Yong.

"We must do this through action and not empty talks," she added yesterday during the debate on the motion to thank the governor for his opening speech in the state assembly.

violet yong Yong has been consistent in raising the issue of timber smuggling into the state and had continuously asked the state government to put an end to the trade involving illegal Indonesian timber.

Sarawak shares thousands of kilometres of open border with Indonesia, making it easy for the Indonesian timber to be easily smuggled into the state, although in most cases the timbers were smuggled in using little-known ports. The timbers are then re-routed to European markets.

illegal timber route from ketapang indonesia to sematan sarawak 150509 In the previous assembly sitting in November 2008, Yong had raised the issue of the Indonesian government's complaints that illegal timbers were being smuggled across the border from West Kalimantan into Sarawak through the Sematan port.

And earlier in March 2008 Indonesia Metro TV produced a three-part series, based on interviews and on-the-spot filming, on the illegal timber trade which implicated Harwood Timber, a Sarawak government agency-owned company, as well as a top Sarawak government leader.

Various Indonesian reports which followed similarly laid the blame to the Sarawak state agency company and the same state leader.

One particular Indonesian report even traced the route the illegal trade from the protected forests in Katapang to Sematan by boats and again mentioned Harwood Timber's name. It also implicated the state's top leader.

Yong said that the reports implied that Sarawak was being used as a conduit for the export of illegal and/or smuggled timber from Indonesia.

"It was and is a serious allegation that must be answered by the authorities in Sarawak," she said.

State minister ‘shuts his eyes'

She added that she had raised this issue in the first place due to several concerns for Sarawak, including the mention of the state agency company Harwood Timber as an alleged culprit.

"Secondly, if no action was taken to explain or clarify the matter, it could and would harm the good name and reputation of Sarawak timber overseas, particularly among the European Union countries which are now gravely concerned about timber coming from illegal sources.

terengganu logging catchment area wildlife threat 121108 02 "Unfortunately, despite all such negative reporting overseas, the Second Minister of Resource Planning and Management Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, chose to shut his eyes to these reports," she added.

She claimed that the state minister's assertion that the government had not received any official complaints from the Indonesian authorities pertaining to the export of illegal timber from Indonesian to Sarawak was a lie.

She said that she had in her possession a copy of a complaint letter dated Oct 29, 2008 from the consulate-general of Indonesia addressed to the general manager of the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC).

She added that in that letter, the Indonesian authorities have made an official complaint about illegal Indonesian timber called batak timbers being supplied to Sematan port without any valid legal documents and seeking the Sarawak government's co-operation to put an end to such activities.

"Is this not official complaint?" she asked, adding that a copy of the letter was also sent to minister Awang Tengah as well as to Harwood Timber two weeks before the minister claimed that he had not received any official complaints.

She wanted to know if Awang Tengah was hoping to just brush aside the problem by denying the existence of the issue.

"The state government and the STIDC and the subsidiary company Harwood Timber have brought shame and embarrassment to Sarawak," she added.

Disastrous for the state timber industry

She added that a failure by the state government to address this issue could prove fatal for its timber industry.

illegal logging 260608 02 "Sarawak may not be qualified for EU certification. Soon Japan which is one of the largest importers of Sarawak timber products will likely to follow suit. If this happen, it will be disastrous to our state's timber industry," she said.

She also said that the excessive illegal logging activities in Indonesia will have a negative environmental impact on the state.

"The whole world is moving towards preserving rainforests and here, our state government's agency is seen to become a culprit in destroying rainforest by encouraging illegal logging," she added.

She also said that the continued illegal smuggling will only strain the relationship between the state and its neighbour.