Jakarta – A government sweep in Tarakan, East Kalimantan last week allegedly found indications of involvement in the multi- billion dollar Borneo illegal timber trade of Malaysian military elements and timber companies, Forestry and Plantations Ministry secretary general Suripto said.

"It is probably not the Malaysian government itself which is involved in the case but we have found in our recent operations there some indications of involvement by Malaysian companies," Suripto told a media conference.

"We have also found evidence of possible involvement by the Malaysian military in the form of rations discovered in the Tarakan area which bear the name of the royal Malaysian armed forces." Suripto said the evidence was discovered during an Indonesian military operation against illegal logging in Tarakan, which is on the border of East Kalimantan and the Malaysian state of Sabah.

The operation, ordered by President Abdurrahman Wahid, involved more than a battalion of the army's elite Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad). However, it was largely a failure amid indications that news of the sweep had been leaked ahead of time to illegal operators, possibly from sources in the Indonesian military headquarters, Suripto alleged.

He said illegal logging and timber smuggling out of Tarakan to Sabah has been underway for 10 years, costing Indonesia 80,000- 100,000 cubic metres of timber monthly, or 8-10 mln usd per month.

He said the trade is believed to be run by Indonesian residents in cooperation with some timber companies and security authorities. However, he alleged that most of the money for the trade comes from timber companies in Sabah whose forest concessions are insufficient to supply their capacity.

"The illegal logging and timber trade is definitely organised by a large and powerful timber sector mafia in Indonesia and Malaysia," Suripto said. "It is so strong, they [the mafia] can even influence law enforcement and officials from the local ministries and the military."