An Offer Of Peaceful Relations From Malaysia To Indonesia

Malaysia has always been a strong proponent and practitioner of sustainable forest management and responsible utilisation of forest resources. Efforts at promoting and practising SFM have been made both locally, between government, private sector and civil society, as well as internationally, involving agencies like DANCED, GTZ and even the EU. All these have the ultimate aim of ensuring that Malaysia's timber-based products are derived from forests managed through environmentally sound policies.

Against this background as well as her repeated calls for the establishment of a Global Forest Convention to safeguard the world's forests, Malaysia has every reason to be concerned by Indonesia's recent call for a worldwide ban on Malaysian timber. What is regretful is that these attempts not only undermine, but also fail to acknowledge the long-term commitment of the Malaysian government to the development of a sustainable forestry sector, as well as her efforts to secure better market access for tropical timber products worldwide.

The current state of events stem from two issues: firstly, the trade of Ramin, and secondly, the widespread illegal logging occurring in the forests of Indonesia, especially in the Kalimantan area. Both are a genuine cause for concern for both the Indonesian and Malaysian governments. This article aims to clarify Malaysia's position on both issues.

CITES Listing Of Ramin - What Exactly Is A "Partial Reservation"?

Subsequent to the listing of Ramin on Appendix III of CITES by Indonesia in August 2001, Malaysia entered an official reservation on products of Ramin. Malaysia as a party to CITES agreed to abide by its commitments to enforce regulations on issuance of CITES Certificates of Origin for her own Ramin logs and sawntimber. Exporters wishing to export Ramin logs and sawntimber from Malaysia must apply for the CITES Certificate of Origin from the Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) [for exporters from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah], or the Sarawak Forestry Department [for Sarawak exporters]. In short, a "partial reservation" means that Malaysia will enforce CITES regulations but not for downstream products.

The requirement for a Certificate of Origin for Ramin parts and derivatives from Malaysia is, however, an optional arrangement subject to request by exporters or foreign buyers. Malaysia's rationale on entering a partial reservation is premised upon the difficulty of enforcing Malaysia's CITES commitment on all parts and derivatives of Ramin. It is easy enough to track down Ramin logs and sawntimber, as these products merely require a mobile chainsaw to be produced in the forests and could be more easily smuggled out of the forests. However, for products like veneer, plywood, dowels, furniture and other finished products, production requires more sophisticated machinery which is not mobile and which can only be installed with proper power supply. Malaysia's intentions in entering the reservations have been misconstrued.

In entering a partial reservation on the listing of Ramin on CITES Appendix III, Malaysia actually learnt from similar problems of illegal felling and smuggling of Big Leaf Mahogany (Swietenia mocrophylla) in South America. Costa Rica, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru had, one after another, listed this species on Appendix III of CITES since the mid- 1990's. Every one of these listings was only for "logs, sawn wood and veneer" and not any other parts and further downstream derivatives. Even when COP 12 of CITES in Santiago decided to list Big Leaf Mahogany on Appendix II of CITES from November 2003, it was still only for "logs, sawntimber, veneer sheets and plywood" and not for all parts and derivatives. So any country (especially more developed countries) can produce laminated MDF and laminated strand boards using Mahogany veneer, or even finished products like doors laminated with Mahogany veneers and furniture and export them without CITES requirements. Although the CITES Convention allows the party proposing the listing to determine the products to be listed, this should be regularised if the world community feels that the problems faced by all regions are similar.

In fact, Malaysia has never had problems with its supply of Ramin, a timber species that is commonly found in Malaysia's extensive peat swamp forests. Her partial reservation on Indonesia's listing of Ramin on CITES Appendix III was on the one hand, a defensive strategy to safeguard Malaysia's own Ramin trade, and on the other, to provide support to Indonesia's initiative as a much-respected fellow tropical timber producer. There are existing projects in Malaysia aimed at strengthening conservation measures for peat swamps. A Malaysian government-UNDP-GEF funded project is being undertaken for Southeast Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia, Loagan Bunut in Sarawak and Klias Peninsula in Sabah. A bilateral project 'Sustainable Management of Peat Swamp Forest of Sarawak with Special Reference to Ramin is also currently being undertaken. The project's findings would include, amongst others, the effectiveness of the current enforcement of the management system and its impact on the regenerating capacity and future yield of Ramin. The scientific data generated from these projects will provide some factual certainty on the conservation status of Ramin in Malaysia, instead of depending on mere guesswork and inadequate information.

Illegal Timber, Cross-Border Transactions And The Free Commercial Zone

Both Malaysia and Indonesia have on-going programmes aimed at strengthening forest governance and curbing illegal logging activities. The fact that some illegally harvested timber in Kalimantan find their way to overseas markets through ports located in the country is not a new finding either. This is an ongoing enforcement challenge, given the rough tropical terrain and long porous border between Indonesia and Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Apart from Malaysia's imposition of a total ban on the import of Indonesian round logs in June 2002, and later Large Scantlings & Squares (LSS) in June 2003, the Malaysian state of Sarawak has also restricted the entry of sawntimber to five designated/ gazetted points along the border. These are Tebedu, Biawak, Lubok Antu, Batu Lintang and Sematan. Malaysia's bans on Indonesian round logs and LSS have been coupled with strict enforcement

Article VII of the CITES Convention exempts transhipment cargoes from the requirements of the treaty. CITES Resolution Conf.9.7 recommends that the Parties "inspect, to the extent possible under their national legislation, specimens in transit..:' and that "Parties adopt legislation allowing them to seize and confiscate specimens in transit or being transhipped without valid export documentation". Where existing national legislation is inadequate to carry out these obligations effectively, Malaysia should be given time to address these legislative loopholes. Malaysia also needs to examine her commitments to other international maritime legislation and balance competing interests before pre-emptive or tightening legislative measures can be undertaken.

Malaysia looks forward to cooperating with Indonesia to resolve these long-standing issues of mutual interest. In fact, Malaysia, through its participation in the International Tropical Timber Organisation's (ITTO) Council meetings, has always stood up strongly for the interests of tropical timber producers to gain improved global market access for tropical timber products. Most recently in January 2004, Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia and President Megawati of Indonesia issued a joint statement renewing their efforts to prevent smuggling, including the smuggling of timber. As both country leaders have expressed good intentions to work together for our mutual benefit, and Malaysia has repeatedly tried to revive the bilateral Joint Working Group on Forestry between the two countries, it is now up to Indonesia to accept Malaysia's offer of friendly negotiations. Because the painful reality is that unless good relations in forestry matters, such as those enjoyed between Malaysia and Indonesia in the 80's and 90's, are restored, both countries stand to lose a lot more than just their reputations in the global timber market.