Tempo Magazine - April 2 - 8, 2002 

Cover Story : Squeezed by the Logging Business

The complex of buildings on Jalan Hamadi, Jayapura, looks pretty ordinary from the outside. On the site, which is about the same size as a football pitch, there stands one 200-square-meter house, two wooden houses on stilts, an office building, a kitchen and a gazebo. The only sign of who actually owns the site is a battered board bearing the name of PT Hanurata Coy Ltd. The site also plays home to two flagpoles flying Indonesia's red and white banner. 

Both the land and the buildings along Jalan Hamadi do indeed belong to PT Hanurata, a forest concessionaire which holds the right to log 150,000 hectares of forest in Jayapura and Sorong, Papua. But it is an open secret that a number of buildings on the site are occupied by the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) troops. 

Since the time of the New Order, the military has been granted many logging concessions, especially in Kalimantan and Papua. It is also an open secret that many unscrupulous soldiers serve as "security guards" for logging companies owned by tycoons of Chinese descent and cronies of Suharto. 

PT Hanurata's shares are owned by, among others, the Trikora and Harapan Kita Foundations (owned by Suharto), and a foundation belonging to Kopassus. 

The Australian daily, following investigations it conducted last January, linked the death of Theys Hiyo Eluay, the chairman of the Papua Presidium Council, to the big-money logging business in Papua. The daily reported that there were strong suspicions that Theys had been ordered killed by a forest concessionaire firm with strong links to Kopassus, and owned by important players in Jakarta. As it happened, Theys was found murdered after attending a dinner together with the Kopassus Tribuana Task Force commander, Lt. Col. Hartomo. 

Why Theys? It would appear that Theys' role in the timber business was becoming increasingly important. Since the Regional Autonomy Law came into effect at the start of last January, the right to issue logging concessions has been surrendered to the regional governments. And before a concession can be granted, the traditional leader must give his blessing-on behalf of his people-for a company to operate in the area in question. Theys was, of course, one of the best-known of the traditional leaders. 

The Regional Autonomy Law also requires that 80 percent of the revenues from logging be handed over to the regions. The effect of all this is quite clear-the logging concessionaires are going to receive a far smaller share of the goodies than they did in the past. As a result, the competition between the loggers has intensified. And this, in turn, has made the roles of Papuan traditional leaders more important than ever before. 

The race to influence traditional leaders-if necessary by showering them with gifts-has also heated up. According to Jhon Rumbiak from the Human Rights Advocacy and Study Institute, Theys was not only close to a lot of timber barons, but also received a lot of money from them. 

Besides Kopassus and Hanurata, there are a number of other companies scrambling to control the action in the area, including Sumalindo Lestari Jaya III, Yuo Liem Saru, and Wapoga Mutiara Timber. The tight competition between them has worsened the violations that have taken place in forest management, all done with a view to maximizing profit and minimizing costs. A number of the companies have hired small contractors to carry out logging while closing their eyes to the unrestricted rape of the forests. Some of these companies have been threatened with having their concessions revoked. 

Now that the forests of Kalimantan have been seriously damaged after being plundered for so long, the attention of the loggers has shifted to Papua. At the moment there are no less than 50 companies operating and collectively controlling 11.8 million hectares of forest-the equivalent figure in Kalimantan is 10 million hectares. 

The effects of the mad scramble are to be felt everywhere. The hotels in Sorong, for example, have been fully booked of late. Most of those taking rooms are loggers, including those from places like China, Korea and Malaysia, all there to seek logging concessions at whatever price. 

All of this has made the "price" of someone like Theys very high. Boy Eluay, Theys' son, did not deny that his father was close to a number of forest concessionaires. Businessmen frequently came to his father's house bearing gifts. The new Kijang that Theys traveled in during his last trip was a gift from PT Djayanti, the largest forest concessionaire in Papua (1.9 million hectares) and a competitor of Hanurata. 

Theys is already regarded by many Papuans as a martyr for their country's independence. However, it could be that the real reason behind his death was a lot simpler than that: money. And there can be no doubt that an equally tragic victim of the latest developments will be the Papuan rainforest itself. 

Bina Bektiati, Prasidono L. (Jakarta), Cunding Levi (Jayapura)