Under Fire – Illegal Logging in Indonesia’s National Parks.

In August 1999, Telapak Indonesia together with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) an International NGO based in London launched a campaign against illegal logging in two Indonesian National Parks, namely Tanjung Putting and Gunung Leuser. In a high profile press conference convened in Jakarta, the two organizations released "The Final Cut", a report revealing the extent of illegal logging in the two National Parks, and the forces they found behind this rampant practice. This report was not only revealed to the media who eagerly lapped it up, it was also presented to the governor of Central Kalimantan, and to the Indonesian governments department of forestry. In fact soon after "The Final Cut" was released, Mr. Muslimin Nasution who was the minister at the time – ventured to visit Tanjung Putting National Park to check things out. However the statements he made to the media at the time were not encouraging. He announced that The Park was still beautifully green, and that Telapak and EIA were exaggerating the damage.

In September 1999, investigators from the two organizations returned to Tanjung Putting, and discovered that no real change had happened. The illegal logging activities were continuing at the same speed, bringing the national park even closer to total destruction. The investigation team estimated that if the logging did not stop the Park would soon be history. This time they presented the "Final Cut Report" accompanied with a "Final Cut II" video to the Golkar Party representatives in Parliament; Who expressed concern about the issue and promised to follow up on the report.

In January 2000, yet again a team of investigators revisited the area to check on the situation. The plan was to present the results to a post CGI conference in Jakarta, so that illegal logging would gain serious attention. They found that the illegal logging yet continued, and this time around they were abducted by people from the Tanjung Lingga Company, who in "The Final Cut" report were identified as one of the main forces behind illegal logging. Faith Doherty and Ruwidrijanto from EIA and TELAPAK Indonesia respectively, were bashed up, threatened with a pistol at close range, and then were forced to sign a letter denying the truth of "the Final Cut" report. They were also asked to launch a campaign in the mass media publicly apologizing to PT Tanjung Lingga for the damage the report had caused for company. When the two activists refused they were not permitted to leave Pangkalan Bun, the small town in Central Kalimantan where they were abducted. In fact the company after bashing them up, and damaging their equipment, reported them to the police for trespassing and defamation. The two activists were in reality ‘detained’ in the local police station, which was surrounded by a mob of around 50 men from Tanjung Lingga. Preventing even the police from escorting the two activists to the airport. Thankfully after two days, with the escort of a whole truck of policemen from the mobile brigade the two activists were driven to the local airport to board a chartered plane back to Jakarta, and safety.

Currently a team of lawyers is representing the two organizations that are pressing charges against the Tanjung Lingga company.

Indonesia adalah rumah bagi 80% dari seluruh orangutan di dunia, yang hanya ditemukan di pulau Borneo dan Kalimantan. Investigasi yang dilakukan oleh TELAPAK Indonesia dan EIA menunjukkan bahwa populasi orangutan kini terancam secara serius.

At the mouth of the river, in full view of the outhorities, logs are loaded onto large steel barges.

Di muara sungai, di depan mata pihak yang berwenang, kayu-kayu curian diangkut ke tongkang baja.

This ramin factory loads unmarked ramin from rafts, dries it in drying rooms, and processes it into mouldings and blinds for export to Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan and the USA. Despite ramin being an extreemly rare wood, the factory is expanding.

Pabrik ini mengolah kayu ramin menjadi moulding dan tirai kayu untuk diekspor ke Hongkong, Singapura, Taiwan dan Amerika Serikat. Di satu sis ramin adalah kayu yang sangat langka, namun kenyataannya pabrik ini sedang melakukan ekspansi.