Extracted from Malaysiakini

Extracted from Malaysiakini.com

Govt to protest call for EU to ban M’sian timber products
Yap Mun Ching
5:31:47 PM Oct 18, 2003

Malaysia will be sending a protest note to Jakarta over a controversial call last week by Indonesian Minister of Forestry Muhammad Prakosa for the European Union (EU) to reject timber products from Malaysia if they are suspected of being made of illegally cut Indonesian logs.

Minister of Primary Industries Dr Lim Keng Yaik said this today while expressing his outrage over Prakosa’s sudden announcement last Wednesday in an attempt to address illegal logging in Indonesia.

"I take offence over this. I will be calling him up. I will also be calling in the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia to protest over this.

"If the Indonesian Forestry Ministry cannot control illegal logging in their own backyard, they should not blame other countries," Lim told a press conference at the Gerakan party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Lim said Malaysia had already taken strong measures to curb illegal logging and smuggling of sawn timber from Indonesia.

"Our timber is certified by independent assessors. They first check that the timber exported from Malaysia comes from sustainably managed forests in the country.

"We have tried to set up a bilateral meeting with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry for a year now to discuss this but we have not been successful," he said.

No bilateral talks

Lim also said he had expressed his displeasure with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda whom he met earlier this week at the Organisation of Islamic Conference summit.

"He sat next to me during a dinner hosted by Prime Minister (Dr Mahathir Mohamad) and I have told him that if it is true (Prakosa’s move), then it is not a nice thing to say about Malaysia."

On possible repercussions, Lim said the EU is unlikely to take any action against Malaysian timber products.

However, Prakosa was quoted in a report published on Wednesday by the Indonesian Centre Policy for Agro Studies that the EU is likely to approve of Jakarta’s proposal.

The minister was also reported to have said that there would be no bilateral talks with Malaysia and Singapore since both countries have allegedly been uncooperative to Indonesia’s efforts in preserving its natural timber resources.

In the past, Prakosa had frequently lashed out at Malaysia, Singapore and China for accepting most of the illegal logs smuggled out of Indonesia.

In June, Jakarta also successfully lobbied Japan to reject timber products from these three countries if they are found to have used Indonesian trees as raw materials.

Rise in commodity earnings

On another matter, Lim announced that the country’s export earnings are likely to top last year’s figures by more than RM12 billion.

He said earnings for the year has been forecasted to total RM62 billion, largely due to large increases in income from export of palm oil products and timber products, as compared to RM50 billion in export earnings last year.

The minister said part of the reason for the large jump in earnings was due to successful measures in keeping prices high and stable.

"This is due to our ability to work with our neighbours. Over the past three years, we have worked with Thailand and Indonesia to set up a supply management scheme and a good export scheme," he said.

As a result, Lim said the price of rubber rose from RM1.80 per kg in Feb 2001 to RM4.70 today. Similarly, price of palm oil also rose from RM700 per tonne to RM1,400 per tonne over the same period.

He added that analysts have predicted that the prices for these two commodities are likely to remain stable for the whole of next year.

"I will tell (incoming Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) that he has no problems in these areas when he calls for elections. These are good figures for elections," he added.