SBY sells forest cheaper than banana price

Fried banana price is Rp 500 a piece.

The new government regulation, known as PP No 2/2008, issued last month, meanwhile, charged a businessman Rp 300 per hectare of protected forest to do business there.

13 mining firms which have operated in protected forests under a special treatment from the government will be relax with the new regulation because they could continue their operation and make more profit. Even the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro dared to say that more firms could join the group.

The government claimed that the charge would raise levies from non-forest businesses in the forestry sector and the regulation was just a continuation from the previous policy, an explanation which is I think not easy to accept.

Confusing really to see the inconsistency in this government. It issued this new policy just two months after we held a U.N. Climate Change Conference. At that time they tried hard to protect forests, and now they start to damage our forest.

Money above everything.

It was just another tactic to say “we just continue the previous policy”. Oh, come on, you are in power and you have full authority to say we stop the previous policy should it be bad.

Take a look at Australian Prime Minister Rudd. He could suddenly sign Kyoto Protocol once he assumed power, reversing the previous policy under his predecessor John Howard.

Then, why you couldn’t do it Sir SBY?

It seems that money is above everything now, especially when it stems from multinational corporations. What will you lose if you did n’t issue such a regulation?

Will the firms operating in the protected forest sue you? Or what?

Will you be satisfied Mr. President to hear that more natural disasters will happen due to the issuance of this regulation?

Should we teach you a stand you should take Mr. President? Like for example: Hi businessmen, you could do business everywhere else in our country but not in our protected forest.

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