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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Malaysian Government Offers Aid to Solomons Logging Industry

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

March 18, 1996

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

The Weekend Australian reports on Malaysia's response to

Australian discontinuation of forest aid and general criticism of

the Malaysian timber industry. Malaysia has offered to provide

the Solomon Islands with forest aid and expertise to continue the

massive logging already occurring. This aid is necessary in light

of Australia's recent cancellation of $2.2 million in forestry aid

based on clearly unsustainable harvest levels.

The Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries blames the bad image

of the Malaysian timber industry in the South Pacific on "others

who are not in favour of Malaysia coming into the arena of the

South Pacific."

Of the thousands of people I have communicated with in PNG and the

world that are concerned about loss of rainforests in the South

Pacific; not one ever said an anti-Malaysian sentiment. People I

work with in the Rainforest movement are concerned with lack of

meaningful in country development and benefits, environmental

destruction, and social justice issues.

The Malaysian government's efforts to write off resistance to its

aggressive once over industrial logging of fragile rainforest

ecosystems brings it into clear complicity with the Malaysian

timber industry which; having cleared much of South-East Asia, are

moving into the South Pacific, Africa and South America. The

Malaysian timber industries' type of development is economically

and ecologically short sighted at best, and frequently criminal

and permanently ecologically disastrous at worst. Millions of

years of ecological and biological diversification being mowed in

the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere by Malaysian

timber interests can not be disregarded by the Malaysian

government.

Complete details on the rapid clearing of the Solomon Islands

rainforests by rapacious Malaysian timber industry (by some

accounts, in 6 years primary rainforest cover will be gone with

the exception of scattered remnants) can be found in the Solomon

Islands directory of the Gaia Forest Archives

(http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/gaia.html) at:

http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/links/sislands.html

g.b.

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The Weekend Australian

March 16-17, 1996

Page 15

Malaysia offers aid to Solomons logging industry

by Mary-Louise O'Callaghan

South Pacific Correspondent

Honiara: Malaysia has offered to provide the Solomon Islands with

aid and expertise for its controversial logging industry just

three months after Australia cancelled $2.2 million in forestry

aid, citing unstainable forestry practices by mostly-Malaysian

operators.

The Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries, Dr Lim Keng Yaik,

announced the initiative in the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara,

yesterday, where he also blamed the former Australian prime

minister Mr Paul Keating for locking Malaysia out of "dialogue"

with the region's peak political body, the South Pacific Forum.

"We would like to be accepted as a dialogue partner at the

...forum so that we could at least answer back when we are finger-

pointed at. (But) we would not have stood a chance while PK was

there," he said in a reference to Malaysia's push to become a

dialogue partner at the next forum.

Dr Lim, who is on a four-country tour of the South Pacific, also

strongly defended the Malaysian operators who dominate the timber

industry in all three Melanesian countries, the Solomon Islands,

Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

"We are honourable people doing an honourable job," he said,

claiming the poor public image of Malaysian loggers was more

likely to do with others resenting the Malaysian presence in the

region.

"I don't know why. Perhaps there are others who are not in favour

of Malaysia coming into the arena of the South Pacific. I am not

picking on anyone by qualifying the 'others'."

His remarks echoed those of the Solomon Islands prime minister, Mr

Solomon Mamaloni, who was highly critical of Mr Keating's strong

anti-logging stand at the past two annual forums.

Earlier this week, the Solomon Islands Minister for Development

Planning, Mr David Sitai, said he hoped to pursue the issue of

forestry aid with Australia's new Coalition Government.

Dr Lim said yesterday he had received an enthusiastic response

from the Solomon Islands Government to Malaysia's offer to provide

assistance to the timber sector.

"We have officers who have expertise in this area, especially in

tropical forests, and we can send them here to help in running the

ministry in terms of sustainable forestry practices," he said. "I

find that there is a lot in common between us."

Dr Lim said he had also used his visit to lobby for a reduction in

the export duty on logs from the Solomon Islands, which is heavily

dependent on the industry for its foreign exchange earnings.

He had also invited Mr Mamaloni to visit Malaysia, he said.

Tensions in the Solomon Islands-Australian relationship over

logging came to a head late last year when Canberra announced the

cancellation of a $2.2 million package of technical assistance for

Solomons' forestry sector.

"If Solomon Islands does not reform its forestry sector, there

will soon be nothing left," the then minister for development co-

operation and Pacific island affairs, Mr Gordon Bilney, said at

the time.

He said he believed Australia and Malaysia should be able to work

together.

"We want to work with others in the South Pacific; we do not want

to exclude others," Mr Bilney said.

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