Public involvement is one of the ways out to control deforestation that still continues in Indonesia, especially considering its trend to head towards the eastern part of the country while there is a lack of formal surveillance. At the same time, the regulation side also needs to keep itself up to date by adding private corruption as part of corruption crimes. These were key points raised in the webinar Bincang Hukum #4 with the subject “Corruption, Deforestation and Law Enforcement” on 3 March 2021.

The webinar, held by Auriga Nusantara and streamed on Auriga’s YouTube channel, was supposed to bring together six guest speakers. However, due to certain circumstances, only four of them came into view. They were Nurul Ghufron (the Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK), Prof. Hariadi Kartodihardjo (professor of forestry at the IPB University), Febri Diansyah (former spokesman of KPK), and Kiki Taufik (Head of South East Asia Greenpeace Campaign Team).

Prof. Hariadi opened the discussion with his presentation “Deforestation and Challenges in Bureaucracy”. He exposed the problems of bureaucratic behaviors and policy changes that are correlated with corruption.

Kiki Taufik presented a subject on “Law Enforcement Performance in the Overcoming of Deforestation from NGOs Point of View”. He focused on the failure of the state against corporate’s power. He revealed that, according to Greenpeace records, there are 27 companies engaged in industrial tree plantation in Riau province throughout 2002-2006 that allegedly committed corruption crimes to which the law enforcement are still up in the air. Additionally, only Rp 78 billion out of Rp 3.15 trillion the state won from the lawsuits against corporations could be executed. Kiki stressed the need for transparency in the fight against deforestation.

The third speaker, Febri Diansyah, made “Deforestation and State Economic Losses” as his center of attention. He explained the importance of putting in place the regulations and policies to minimize the leeways for corruption as well as consistent law enforcement that targets big offenders and or corporations.

The last speaker, Nurul Ghufron, presented a paper with the subject “Corruption Eradication in the Forest Sector”. He layed out state capture as one of the root problems in the management of natural resources in Indonesia. He offered an anti-corruption governance model through three steps: developing integrated data and information systems, closing corruption vulnerable points and saving the state’s wealth, and controlling policy implementation to actualize sovereignty over natural resources management.

Speakers and presentations
Prof. Hariadi Kartodihardjo (professor of forestry at the IPB University): “Deforestation and Challenges in Bureaucracy”

Kiki Taufik (Greenpeace Global Head of Indonesia Forest Campaign): “Law Enforcement Performance in the Overcoming of Deforestation from NGOs Point of View”

Febri Diansyah (Lawyer at Visi Integritas): “Deforestation and State Economic Losses”

Nurul Ghufron (the Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission): “Corruption Eradication in the Forest Sector”

Time and place
Date: 3 March 2021
Time: 13:30-16:00
Place: Auriga Nusantara’s YouTube channel