Indonesia battles illegal timber trade

National police were then brought in to investigate the exporters who supplied the logs.

"They're being smart about it," says Julian Newman of Environmental Investigation Agency, a UK-based campaign group that works with Telapak. "But the less progressive elements in the government and the local barons don't like it. It's become a symbolic battle."

The Chinese ambassador in Jakarta has complained to the Indonesian government about the detention of the state-owned vessels and 75 crew members, whom the Navy won't allow to leave the ship.

Indonesia's ambassador in Beijing has also been asked to explain the seizure. Yang Peidong, a Chinese Embassy official in Jakarta, says the ships had the necessary documents for their cargo and shouldn't be punished for carrying the timber. "They came here under contract," he says.

Ironically, China has imposed a strict ban on logging at home after years of rampant clearcutting.

Environmentalists say that has helped stoke demand for wood across Southeast Asia, in Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, and Laos. Feeble laws and porous borders have led to a boom in illegal timber trade across the region.

In Indonesia, simply keeping hold of the seized timber is a struggle. Local politicians have pressured Jakarta to return the Chinese ships to Kalimantan.

Timber companies want the case to be handled locally, where their grip is solid, instead of in Jakarta.

But forestry officials insist that, since the logs were seized offshore, it falls under the central government's jurisdiction.

Earlier this month, the national equivalent of the FBI announced that it would auction off the timber in Jakarta. Only a firm response from the Navy and Forestry Minister Muhammad Prakosa, who is said to have won the backing of President Megawati, blocked the release of the logs.

But bringing illegal loggers to justice still depends on the country's graft-ridden police and judiciary.

"In this case, the Ministry of Forestry seems quite determined to win the tussle with the illegal loggers. If they do, it will be encouraging progress. If they don't, it's back to business as usual," says Diarmid O'Sullivan, an analyst for International Crisis Group, a think-tank based in Brussels.

Campaigners don't expect to see Rasyid behind bars - if the timber is proven to be his - but say the seizure has definitely hit the illegal loggers where it hurts: in the pocket.

Zhao Yue Shueng, a lawyer from Shanghai, China, who is trying to win the release of his client's vessel, MV Fonwa Star, estimates that the cost of lost business for the ship-owners is $4.5 million.

"Until now, we've not seen any documents saying why our vessels are arrested," he complains.

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