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?