Minister wants to limit foreigners in forestry

BANDARLAMPUNG: Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan says he plans to provide more support to domestic forestry business players and limit the presence of foreign investors.

“For foreign businessmen, for example, from Malaysia, who apply for licenses, we will say ‘no’,” Zulkifli said in a discussion at the Forestry Technology Department at Lampung University on Friday.

Zulkifli said as quoted by Antara that foreign countries had been doing the same; they did not give forestry utilization licenses to Indonesia.

Forestry policy during the New Order era sided with big investors, especially foreign ones, and neglected forest communities, the minister went on.

In the past, anyone from any countries such as Malaysia and Taiwan could log while the communities who lived for generations nearby the forests were not allowed to cut even one or two trees, Zulkifli said.

“It’s not surprising that after the reform era, the communities flocked to the forest and logged the trees,” he said. — JP