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The Nation: Editorial/Logging mafia
- Subject: The Nation: Editorial/Logging mafia
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 20:41:00
Editorial & Opinion
Editorial/Logging mafia
rules in Mae Hong Son
For several years now, Thailand has
suffered from a collective blindness to the
rampant illegal logging in the Salween
conservation areas. Suddenly, the
exposure of an attempted Bt5 million bribe
seems to have opened the public's eyes.
It is about time. At least 13,000 logs have
been confiscated from the area, and who
knows how many thousands more were
ferried across the Salween, stamped by
Burmese authorities and then ''exported'' to
Thailand, where they were allowed to pass
through customs and be picked up by Thai
logging firms.
Everyone knew what was going on -- the
scheme has been well-documented in the
press -- and everyone knew who was
behind it. But it was allowed to continue
because the authorities who had the power
to stop it either did not care or were
reaping the benefits of such illegal
activities. Meanwhile, lesser officials who
might have blown the whistle were either
murdered or threatened into remaining
silent.
The destruction of Thai forests is only part
of the story here. For far too long now, the
logging mafia has ruled Mae Hong Son with
a brutal hand, bribing all manner of officials
to look the other way and gunning down
anyone who stands in its way.
What is more, several years ago, the
godfather behind the Salween scheme
essentially instigated a war between the
Slorc and the Karenni National Progressive
Party, a minority group which had signed a
ceasefire with Burma's ruling military junta,
by illicitly importing logs from Burma's
Kayah State.
Hopefully, the political storm brewing over
the attempted bribe will not prevent this
logging tycoon -- one of the most vicious
thugs in Thailand -- from finally being
brought to justice, along with his political
and military backers.
But that should not be the end of the story.
Even if the Salween log poaching scheme
is finally shut down, a new one will simply
take its place unless there is serious
institutional reform.
This illegal logging scheme could not have
occurred without the complicity of law
enforcers and all the Interior Ministry
officials who allowed the logs to be
''imported''. The Interior Ministry repeatedly
refused calls to close the checkpoints and
even increased the number of licences for
log importing companies last year.
The Salween scandal also demonstrates
once again that the Royal Forestry
Department (RFD) is hopelessly corrupt.
If Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai is serious
about wanting to protect Thailand's forests,
then he must finally see to it that the
conservation agencies are moved out of
the RFD once and for all. Our forests will
never be protected so long as they remain
in the clutches of a bureaucracy which
produces leaders like deputy director
general Prawat Thanadka, the man caught
holding the bribe money.
It is also time to take a close look at the
Forest Industry Organisation (FIO). Senate
Speaker Meechai Ruchupan was
absolutely correct in his accusation that this
state enterprise essentially launders
illegally cut logs, thereby providing an
insidious incentive for yet more log
poaching.
Ideally, trees cut down in conservation
areas -- either illegally or to make way for
development projects -- should be allowed
to degrade in the forest, where they will be
naturally ''recycled'', but they would probably
just be stolen. If the logs are to be sold,
however, then the money should be used to
support forest conservation, not the FIO.
The state enterprise should instead be
privatised. Of course, it stands little chance
of surviving on its own, but so be it. Our
economy and our forests can no longer
afford to serve as a welfare fund for a bunch
of ageing bureaucrats.
With every logging scandal, there come
loud calls to protect the forest. But once the
usual political points are scored, the calls
go unanswered, and the logging continues.
Will this time be any different?