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PRESS RELEASE BY
Y.B DATO’ SERI DR. LIM KENG YAIK, MINISTER OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
ON THE IMPORT BAN OF INDONESIAN LOG ISSUED ON 13 MAY 2003
The Malaysian Government had taken action to ban the
importation of logs from Indonesia effective from 25 June 2002, while the import
of logs from other countries are still permitted. This is in reaction to the
move by the Indonesian Government to ban their export of logs, so as to overcome
the problem of illegal logging which has reached a serious stage. There has been
no issuance of import licences for logs from Indonesia since the announcement of
the ban and our enforcement authorities have taken the necessary measures to
enforce the new regulation strictly in order to ensure that no logs from
Indonesia enter the various entry points/ports in the country.
2. Despite the ban and the enforcement efforts taken so far,
we are still confronted with problems of Indonesian logs entering Malaysia. It
should be stressed that our enforcement authorities, in particular the Royal
Malaysian Customs Department, have made a number of seizures involving boats
carrying Indonesian logs but falsely declared as coming from other sources such
as Solomon Islands. Unfortunately, some international environmental watchdogs
and NGOs continue to focus their attention on Malaysia and accuse us of not
taking any action to halt such illegal activities, whilst at the same time
continue to label us as the laundering centre for illegal logs. We view this
allegation seriously as we do not want the illegal Indonesian logs to jeopardize
our effort to implement the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC)
scheme, and to assure our international timber buyers that timber and timber
products exported from Malaysia are from legal and sustainable sources.
3. To demonstrate our seriousness in totally curbing the
entry of Indonesian logs into Malaysia, we are taking measures to strengthen our
enforcement efforts and remove any loophole that exists in implementing the ban.
Apart from banning the importation of round logs, we also wish to announce the
ban on the importation of squared logs ie. timber measuring more than 60 square
inches in size (Large Scantlings and Squares (LSS)), from Indonesia effective
from 1 June 2003. We will also ensure that import licences be issued only to
importers who can show proof of bona fide export sources, other than Indonesia.
We are making this drastic decision in the interest of the country as well as to
erase the negative perception against our timber industry in particular. Thus we
hope that this effort will help to negate whatever allegations and bad publicity
made against Malaysia by the various parties with regard to the importation of
illegal logs from Indonesia. We will also review this policy after six months to
assess its effectiveness in halting the importation of logs from Indonesia.
Ministry of Primary Industries
Kuala Lumpur,
13 May 2003
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