PRESIDENT ORDERS EXAMINATION OF ILLEGAL LOGGERS' LIGHT SENTENCES

Jakarta, April 16 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the task force for eradication of judicial mafia to examine the light sentences passed by courts in illegal logging cases.

He issued the order at a limited cabinet meeting on forestry and environmental problems and revitalization of the defense industry here Friday.

At a press conference after the meeting, Informatics and Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring said, according to available data, out of a total of 92 illegal logging cases heard in courts recently, 49 ended with acquittals, 24 with jail sentences averaging only one year and 19 with jail sentences between one and two years.

"This will not have a deterrent effect. Therefore, the President has ordered the task force to examine the court verdicts to see why they were so mild," he said.

At the meeting, the President also asked National Police chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji about operations in the field against illegal loggers.

On the occasion, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan gave an expose on forest destruction.

Zulkifli said only 24 percent or 43 million of 130 million hectares of primary forests in the country still remained.

He said 40 million hectares were former production forests and half of them had been damaged or were in critical condition. The rest was no longer forested land, he said.

He said large-scale deforestation reached its peak in 2001-2002 following the euphoria of regional autonomy with the rate of destruction reaching 3.5 hectares per year.

To overcome the problem, he said, the government had no other choice but had to conduct a tree planting movement jointly with the people with a forestation target of at least 500,000 hectares a year and a special program for investors to restore industrial forests with a target of minimally 300,000 hectares a year.

He said the government was also planning to conduct replanting along catchment areas that had been deforested and were causing floods.

To slow deforestation, President Yudhoyono had ordered firm law enforcement against illegal loggers. He would also appeal to provincial governors and district heads to not easily issue a license for opening a forest for industrial or mining purposes.

He said by the end of 2010 at the latest, the economic zoning efforts in the provinces must be finished.

Development projects that must be oriented to environmental preservation would be discussed by the President and his cabinet ministers as well as provincial governors in Tampak Siring, Bali, on April 19-21, he said.