An investigation by Today has led to the promise of a clampdown on the criminal timber trade. The Malaysian forests minister has told the 大象传媒 that he鈥檒l act to block imports of illegal Indonesian logs.
We discovered last month that Malaysia was buying timber illegally felled in Indonesia, then turning it into legitimate timber products for export. These are sold on to consumers in Britain who have no way of knowing that they are effectively buying stolen goods.
Malaysia鈥檚 Primary Industries Minister, Dr Lim King Yaik, has now told the 大象传媒 that he's tired of Malaysia's reputation being damaged by association with illegal timber, so he'll urge his Cabinet to impose a total ban on Indonesian illegal imports within a fortnight. Environmentalists say they'll wait and see if the ban is put in place, then made to stick.
If the ban is imposed it will badly affect some areas of Malaysia which are heavily dependent on illegal log imports for their own timber industry.
The Indonesian government has slapped a total ban on exporting uncut logs in a desperate attempt to stem the destruction that is sweeping the nation's forests. Some ministers privately admit that they can鈥檛 stop illegal felling because of widespread corruption, and they have asked other nations to help them by banning the imports of illegal wood.
Hiring a fishing boat, we investigated a brand new harbour built to accept Indonesian logs at Kuala Linggi, a few hours drive south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital. Timber boats carrying the prohibited round logs were openly flying the Indonesian flag - and a local man told there was a steady stream of logging boats from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The supply had not diminished since the log export ban. One boat was flying both Indonesian and Malaysian flags.
Environmentalists claim that the boats often change flags in mid-channel to avoid obvious detection.
Developed nations including the UK are joining an initiative to try to stop the illegal trade. They will welcome Malaysia鈥檚 declaration of intent to join them.
Seventy per cent of Indonesian timber is thought to be illegal. Malaysia's own internal record on illegal logging is much better. It has a mandatory one-year jail sentence for anyone caught for illegal logging. Historically Malaysia has said that Indonesia should try harder to avoid the trees being felled illegally in the first place.
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