Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The Gunung Leuser National Park (TNGL) Center said that provincial legislative councillors and private companies were believed to be involved in illegal forest conversion in the park in Langkat regency, North Sumatra.
TNGL Center head Andi Basrul said the forest conversion was believed to have been carried out by the councillors and a number of private firms over a long time. Andi said that his center often encountered difficulties in curbing illegal forest conversion in TNGL due to this situation.
"We often fail to curb the forest conversion because it is backed by North Sumatra legislative councillors. After we conduct an investigation, it turns out that those who have backed the activity own farms in the TNGL," Andi told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Andi said one of the legislators, allegedly owning rubber farms in TNGL, was from Commission A. He added the lawmaker was known to be quite vocal against the eviction of squatters from the park, on the grounds of unclear park boundaries. Andi said his center had repeatedly explained to the legislators in hearings about the boundaries of TNGL, but they insisted the boundaries were unclear.
"We are ready to have a dialogue with the legislators any time to explain the TNGL boundaries. But it should not be like before when they commented to the media and complicated things further," said Andi.
Andi added that in Langkat regency, the TNGL area spanned 213,000 hectares, 22,100 hectares of which had been illegally converted, as in Sekoci, Sei Minyak and Sei Lepan. "Generally, the areas have been converted into cacao and rubber farms and housing," said Andi, who vowed to destroy the crops in the near future.
Asked who had converted forested areas in the park, Andi said many of them come from private companies, such as PT Bener Meriah (88 hectares) and Inti Rakyat (PIR) ADB plantation (34 hectares).
Andi said his center was currently processing those involved in illegal forest conversion. "In the near future, we will summon all of those who are involved in illegal conversion in TNGL," he said. He added that four suspects had so far been detained for illegal forest conversion.
North Sumatra legislative council Commission A member Ahmad Ihyar Hasibuan, from the Democrat Party, said that no legislators had hampered efforts to curb illegal activities in TNGL. He also denied the allegation by Andi that legislators owned farms in the national park.
"Please show us where the location of the farms are. If he can't prove it, he [Andi] can be sued", Ihyar told the Post on Monday. Ihyar said he and other legislators had raised doubts on the boundaries of TNGL because there had been no accurate explanation from the TNGL Center on the boundaries of community-based production forest areas with TNGL.