Profiting from Plunder
How Malaysia Smuggles Endangered Wood

Contents

Introduction

1

The Illegal Logging Scandal

4Ramin Wood & CITES

5An Appetite for Forest Destruction

6

Malaysia’s Reliance on Illegal Ramin

8

NEW CASE STUDIES
A: Johor Port—A Lesson in Laundering

11

B: Sarawak—State Sanctioned Smuggling 15
C: Illegal Malaysian Ramin Baby Furniture 18
Recommendations

20

References

21

Acknowledgements
EIA and Telapak would like to thank The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, The
Sigrid Rausing Trust, and other donors for their generous support of our work,
though it should not be implied that these groups share the views expressed within
this report.
EIA and Telapak would also like to thank the many community groups, individuals
and NGOs working together with EIA/Telapak on the illegal logging issue.
Written, researched and designed by Sam Lawson.
Additional research and editing by Arbi Valentinus, Dave Currey, Hapsoro, Julian
Newman, Mardi Minangsari, Pallavi Shah, Sascha von Bismarck, Vanessa Freyand Yayat Afianto.
Many thanks to all at Emmerson Press for the printing of this report (Emmerson
Press Tel: +44 1926 854400). Printed on 100% recycled paper.

Front cover (main picture): Raft of illegal logs in Tanjung Puting National
Park
Front cover (Insets): Illegal logger in Indonesian National Park; Container
ship at Johor Port, Malaysia; Ramin wood blinds on sale in the UK
Front cover (main picture): © Kirsten Tuson/Orangutan Foundation; (insets): © A.Valentinus/Environmental Investigation Agency/
Telapak; © Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak; © David Sims/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Executive Summary
Indonesia is suffering rampant illegal
logging which threatens to destroy its
precious forests within a few years, and thisdevastation is being fuelled by uncontrolled
demand for cheap tropical timber in
consuming countries.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal
Indonesian timber are estimated to beentering neighbouring Malaysia each year,
providing cheap raw materials to a
voracious wood industry which can nolonger be sustained by the country’s own
dwindling forest estate.
One particularly vulnerable tree species
being illegally logged in Indonesia’s
precious National Parks is ramin, a valuable
blond hardwood. In an attempt to garnerthe support of the world community in
combating illegal ramin trade, in 2001 theGovernment of Indonesia listed ramin on aninternational convention designed to control
the trade in endangered species – theConvention on International Trade inEndangered Species (CITES).
Since 2001 the Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA) and Telapak have repeatedly
exposed how, despite being a signatory to
CITES, Malaysia is wilfully failing to
uphold its international commitments, andthat illegal Indonesian ramin continues tobe traded through the country with
impunity.
Yet our previous findings pale into
insignificance in light of recent EIA/
Telapak undercover investigations exposing
wholesale laundering of ramin throughMalaysia on an unprecedented scale. These
have revealed how thousands of tonnes ofendangered wood is being smuggled acrossthe border every month by organised
criminals and provided with documents
including CITES permits certifying it as
Malaysian origin – all this despite
Malaysian promises to halt the trade.
Malaysia lies at the hub of a multi-million
dollar web of illegal ramin trading whichspans the globe and is being actively
facilitated by local officials. As a result,products including baby furniture and poolcues made from stolen wood are reaching
the homes of unsuspecting consumers in the
EU, USA and around the world.

Introduction

Never before has the international timberbusiness been under so much scrutiny. This
follows decades of an unregulated andunscrupulous abuse of forests and tradingmechanisms. Many importers admit to ‘notwanting to know’ where their supplies camefrom or how they were acquired. But in thelast few years the international community
has started to tackle the complex issues ofsustainability and legality of supplies with adetermination that was previously lacking.
The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry
released figures towards the end of 2003 that
put the rate of forest loss in the country at
3.8 million hectares per year – by far the
worst in the world.(1) In an attempt to tackle
an accelerating disaster, governments, civilsociety representatives, and some parts ofthe timber industry have focussed on thebasic issue of legality of supplies. Withillegal logging rampant throughout the world
there is a strong recognition that the socialand environmental impact of this scourge are
too huge to ignore, and the criminal
syndicates behind commercial illegal
logging are growing in power as the forests
are shrinking.
EIA and Telapak have repeatedly exposed
the criminals behind this multi-billion dollar
industry. In this report we expose the largest
ever smuggling operation of the valuableand protected tree species ramin to Malaysia.
This shocking evidence highlights
Indonesia’s continuing failure to bring tojustice timber barons who supply andtransport this illegal timber and Malaysia’s
callous complicity in protecting its own
ramin processing industry. In Indonesia
these criminals operate with high-levelprotection and we can only deduct thatIndonesia’s apparent inability to deal withthem is because their supporters are
members of the political and military elite.
Indonesia’s enforcement failures areevident in all parts of society, but Malaysia’s
are not typical of this tightly controlled
regime. It is hoped that the new Malaysianadministration under Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi can break awayfrom the typical official denial and actuallydeal with its appalling failure to support
international efforts to prevent trade inillegally sourced timber.

© Sam Lawson/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Introduction

There are few mechanisms currently
available to regulate any timber trade, but
through the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) it has
been possible to control some tree species
through a legal instrument that alreadyexists. It is for this reason that in 2001
Indonesia decided to place ramin,
Gonystylus spp., on Appendix 3 of CITES totry to prevent the wholesale theft of thisvaluable species from its dwindling swamp
forests and National Parks. These same
Parks are revered around the world for theirdiverse fauna and flora including Asia’s only
Great Ape, the orangutan. Indonesia’s movehas been widely commended as a genuine
appeal for help from the international
community.

Above: Raft ofillegal logs on
the Seruyan rivernear Tanjung
Puting National
Park, Indonesia

1© A.Ruwindrijarto, Environmental Investigation Agnecy/Telapak

Introduction

Above: Illegal logger
in Indonesian NationalPark‘origin
Malaysia’must now
be viewed asa cynical
and fakeattempt at
respectability

2

Malaysia opposed the CITES listing fromthe start. As the only other range state withcommercial supplies of ramin, it took out areservation under the Convention on any
regulation of ramin parts or derivatives
other than logs and sawntimber andcontinues to oppose the use of CITES onother timber species. If Malaysia’s raminindustry was acting legally there shouldhave been nothing to worry about and noreason to take such a step. But as we know
now, this was not the case and it appears
that it was setting itself up for wholesalelaundering.
The shocking results of our recent
investigations clearly show that sometraders and officials in Malaysia still profit
from huge quantities of smuggled
Indonesian ramin and fraudulently sellthem onto the international market as‘origin Malaysia’. If this was previously
seen as a mark of quality and reliability on
the world market, it must now be viewed asa cynical and fake attempt at respectability.
The smuggling uncovered by EIA/Telapak
may be the tip of the iceberg, butnevertheless it represents more than double
the amount of ramin Malaysia can produce

itself annually. This is wholesale theft andclearly Malaysian ramin cannot be trusted
on international markets.
For three years EIA/Telapak have carriedout investigations in Malaysia andrepeatedly found illegally sourced logs of
mixed timber from Indonesia lying in frontof customs or immigration offices demonstrating the degree of official
complicity in this appalling trade. EIA/
Telapak have always supplied its
information to the authorities with varying
results and responses.
Malaysia has disappointed theinternational community, including its
regional neighbours, by its opposition to
the East Asia Forest Law Enforcement andGovernance (FLEG) process signed in agroundbreaking declaration in Bali in
September 2001. Malaysia’s formidable
powers in diplomacy have been focusedmore on undermining this initiative thanpromoting regional cooperation. If
Malaysia wished to be left alone to get on
with its own business, this may have beenreasonable. But Malaysia is a key hub in
the global trade in illegal timber and relies
upon the international community for its

Introduction
Ramin is but one of many tree species
suffering at the hands of timber thieves, and
CITES does not represent the only or theultimate answer to the global problem ofillegal logging and the international trade inillegally sourced timber. But if theintransigence of one country is to beallowed to critically undermine theeffectiveness of this one small step then theability of the world’s governments to even
begin to tackle these issues is called into
question. Meanwhile, the sound ofchainsaws continues to ring through thetrees as time runs out for Indonesia’sforests.

Traders andofficials in
Malaysia
are fuelling
criminality
and raiding
Indonesia’sforestresources

Dave Currey
Director, EIA
HapsoroDirector, Telapak
February 2004

© Dave Currey/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

business. It is therefore vital for Malaysia togenuinely cooperate if its claims ofrespectability are to begin to be believed.
What makes Malaysia so different fromIndonesia in the world’s eyes is theknowledge that Malaysia can enforce its
laws, clean up its act and support its
neighbours if it wants to. Indonesia on theother hand is going through a painfultransition to democracy which since 1998
has created anarchy and lawlessness acrossthe archipelago. Nonetheless, routes from
West Kalimantan to Malaysian Sarawak andfrom East Kalimantan to Malaysian Sabah
could be easily policed if officials from bothcountries were not corrupt.
The information gathered through theserecent EIA/Telapak investigations also point
the finger at China and other markets.
China must act on this information andprevent further abuse of CITES byinspecting ramin factories and living up to
its CITES responsibilities. The ramin
consuming countries and blocks, largely
Japan, the EU and the USA must be morequestioning and pro-active in theirinvestigations into ramin re-exported on totheir markets by China and Malaysia. At
this moment in time, EIA/Telapak believethat no ramin on the market can be trusted.
This highly critical but factual report is not
published to blacken Malaysia’s name, but
to point to some real truths and ask
Malaysia to face up to them as well. We allknow Malaysia is capable of dealing withthese issues if there is genuine interest in
doing so, but to date this interest has only
been self-serving. As Indonesia faces a
critical juncture in its history some tradersand officials in Malaysia are fuelling
criminality and raiding Indonesia’s forest
resources like grave robbers at a funeral.
Illegal logging is a human tragedy as wellas an environmental one. The timbersyndicates with untold financial resources
are greedily grabbing as much illegal timberas they can as the world sits in air
conditioned rooms and negotiates how tostop them. They’re laughing at us. Any
country failing to cooperate fuels thiscriminality that impoverishes the lives offorest dependent people, causes conflict andsocial disintegration and deprives countries
of future wealth.

3The Illegal Logging Scandal© Faith Doherty/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Right: Illegal
logs inTanjung
PutingNational Park,
Indonesia

The Illegal logging
Scandal

An area ofIndonesian
forestlarger than
Taiwan isbeing lost
every year

4

Illegal logging and the international tradein illegally sourced timber have in recent
years been acknowledged as amongst themost pressing environmental problems
facing the world today. Over the last five
years the governments of the world’s
largest timber producing and consuming
countries have made repeatedcommitments in a number of international
fora to take urgent steps to tackle illegal
logging and to halt the trade in illegallysourced timber and wood products. At theG8 Group of major economies, theInternational Tropical Timber Organisationand the United Nations Earth Summit,
nations including the US, UK, Japan,
Russia, China, Indonesia and Malaysia
have pledged to work together to tackle thescourge of timber theft.(2)Illegal logging is not only destroying
forests but is breeding corruption andhampering much needed development innumerous countries around the world. The
natural resources of these countries arebeing plundered and the environment laid
waste, while the profits are used to fuelconflicts or to enrich corrupt politicians as
schools and hospitals are starved of funds.
The sums involved are vast. One
conservative estimate puts the annual
losses in revenues and assets at US$10
billion.(3) Illegally sourced timber andwood products worth billions of dollars

annually are in international trade.
Illegal logging is rampant in tropical andnon-tropical forests across three continents,and much of this wood is destined for therich consuming regions of North America,
Europe and East Asia. More than threequarters of logging in Brazil is illegal,(4)while in Cameroon the figure is 50 per
cent.(5) Up to a third of Russian timber isestimated to have been stolen.(6)The Indonesian archipelago is home toten per cent of the world’s remaining
tropical forests.(7) These forests are someof the most diverse ecosystems on theplanet and are the habitat of numerous
species threatened with extinction,
including the Sumatran tiger and theorangutan, Asia’s only Great Ape. But 70
per cent of Indonesia’s frontier forest has
already been lost, and what remains isbeing destroyed at an unprecedented rate.(8)An area larger than Taiwan is being lost
every year.(9) The major driving force
behind this devastation is illegal logging,which accounts for three quarters of log
production in the country.(10)Since 1999 investigations carried out by
EIA and Telapak have revealed widespread
illegal logging of the ramin tree species(see box) in Indonesia’s protected areas,
including the world famous Tanjung Puting
National Park, one of the last sanctuaries
for the endangered orangutan. EIA/
Telapak investigations have also shown
how illegal ramin is smuggled out of thecountry and on to the world market.(11)Ramin Wood and CITES

Ramin (Gonystylus spp.) is a blond coloured tropical
hardwood, native to the fragile peat-swamp forests ofIndonesia and Malaysia. As the most valuable woodspecies in these ecosystems, ramin trees are usually the
first target of illegal loggers, and selective logging ofthese trees is often the first step leading to forest
clearance, as the tracks and roads built to access andremove the timber become entryways for further illegal
cutting, while canals built to remove the logs drain thepeat and lead to disastrous fires.
Ramin is prized for its appearance, fine grain and easy
working properties, and processed ramin can fetch up to
US$1000 per cubic metre.(12) The majority of theinternational trade in ramin wood is in semi-finished partsand products, and most ramin cut in Indonesia andMalaysia will eventually find its way into homes in thelucrative markets of Europe, East Asia and North America
in the form of picture frames, wood blinds, cues,
furniture, tool handles and decorative mouldings.
As a result of overcutting, ramin has now been loggedout in most of its range, and the quantity in trade has
declined as the species has become increasingly scarce.
Ramin has been placed on the World List of Threatened
Trees and is classified by the World Conservation Union
Above: Ramin dowels on sale in Italy, August 2002
(IUCN) as vulnerable to extinction in the wild.(13)Ramin and CITESIn response to growing concerns about
illegal logging and trade in ramin, in April
2001 the Indonesian government banned all
cutting and export of ramin. Seeking
international help, they also listed thespecies on Appendix III of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). This international
convention, to which 155 countries
including Malaysia are signatories, isdesigned to monitor and if necessary limit
the trade in threatened species. In theabsence of general laws prohibiting theimport of illegally sourced timber and wood
products, listings on CITES are currently
the only legal mechanism by which
importing countries can take action to halt
shipments of such items.
The Appendix III listing, which came into
effect in August 2001, means that
consuming countries must only allow theimport of ramin and ramin products with© Sam Lawson/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Ramin Woodofficial CITES permits from the exporting
government. While Indonesian raminrequires a CITES Export permit, raminfrom the only other range state – Malaysia –requires a CITES Certificate of Origin
guaranteeing that it did not originate
elsewhere. All other CITES Parties are
required to issue CITES certificates for any
re-export of ramin or ramin products, andmust only issue these if they are satisfied
that the wood was imported legally with
CITES documents. Since the end of
December 2001 Indonesia has banned allexports of ramin, except for a small quantityof certified wood exported by one company.
These actions should in theory make it
impossible for Indonesia’s illegal timberbarons to sell their stolen ramin overseas.
Yet in August 2001 the Government of
Malaysia entered an official Reservation
against the listing of ramin parts andproducts, meaning that as regards these
items Malaysia would opt out of its
commitments under CITES. As it turned

5An Appetite for Forest Destruction© Dave Currey/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Below: Illegal
logs fromIndonesia at
the Malaysian
port of Melaka,
August 2001

6

out, the fact that no consuming country
would accept ramin from Malaysia
without CITES permits forced the
Malaysian authorities to issue themregardless, while their justification for theReservation – that implementation would
be impossible – has since proven to befalse. This step has nevertheless served toconfuse the market as to the newrequirements and has facilitated illegal
trade. It also signals Malaysia’s lack ofsupport for the measure – a lack ofsupport which EIA/Telapak investigations
have since shown extends to complicity inundermining the effectiveness of thelisting, and allowing illegal ramin trade tocontinue unhindered.

An Appetite for Forest
Destruction
Malaysia is by far the largest exporter oftropical timber in the world. Malaysia
exports more tropical logs, sawn timber,plywood and veneer than Africa andSouth America combined – exports whichin 2000 were worth in excess of US$2.4
billion. (14) Malaysia also exports around
US$1 billion of wooden furniture eachyear. (15)As Malaysia’s own forests havedwindled, its huge timber industry has
become increasingly reliant on imports ofillegally logged Indonesian wood. In theearly 1990s Malaysia’s domestic log
production stood at 40 million cubic
metres annually, but by 1999 it had
almost halved to 22 million cubic
metres. (16) Yet while log supply has
fallen, the country’s wood processing
industry has maintained an installedcapacity of 40 million cubic metres ayear, with over 1000 sawmills still in
operation. (17)An independent analysis carried out in
September 2002 concluded that legal
felling and legal imports accounted for
only 60 per cent of Malaysia’s total
consumption and export of timber theprevious year. The study concluded thatthe balance “was in all probability
acquired illegally”. (18)Over the last three years EIA/Telapak
investigators have confirmed these
suspicions, and have documented
countless trucks and ships carrying illegal
Indonesian wood entering Malaysia indozens of locations across the country,
including official government bordercheckpoints. An armada of wooden ships
ferry stolen timber from Sumatra toports along the west coast of Peninsular
Malaysia, while fleets of trucks shuttle
contraband wood to and from the longland border between Indonesian Borneo
and the Malaysian state of Sarawak. (19)In recent months banned squared logs
have also been filmed arriving in Tawau
in Sabah from Indonesia’s East
Kalimantan province, while an aerial
survey revealed several illegal logging

Malaysia’s Timber Supply Deficit, 2001
m 3 (000s) RWE*

Legal cut
Legal imports
TOTAL LEGAL TIMBER
SUPPLY

18 892
1 955
20 847

Exports
Domestic Consumption
TOTAL CONSUMPTION

24 9499 243
34 242

DEFICIT (and approximate
Malaysian illegal timber
consumption)

13 395

April 2003

*Round Wood Equivalent
Adapted from Dr David W. Brown, September 2002; Figures from USDA Global Agricultural Information Network

A History of Timber Theft: Illegal
Indonesian Logs Imported into
Malaysia, 2001-2003
Right (top): Illegal Indonesian logs arriving
in Melaka, Peninsular Malaysia, August 2001
Right (upper middle): Illegal Indonesian logs
being unloaded in Kuala Linggi, Peninsular
Malaysia, May 2002
Right (lower middle): Illegal Indonesian logs
in the port of Muar, Peninsular Malaysia,
April 2003
Right (bottom): Illegal squared logs fromIndonesia arriving at the customs-controlled
Barter Trade Jetty at Tawau, Sabah,
Malaysia, October 2003

© Sam Lawson/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

May 2002© Mardi Minangsari/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

August 2001

October 2003
© Sam Lawson/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

roads stretching across the border. (20)
Although a significant proportion of thisflood of smuggled timber is ramin, mostis other less threatened species. Indeed,
Malaysia’s continuing consumption andtrade in stolen Indonesian wood is a broad
problem which CITES alone is not
equipped to tackle. The example of ramin
serves to dramatically expose Malaysia’s
unwillingness to act – and since it is the
only species Malaysia currently has aninternational legal obligation to control, if
ramin from Malaysia cannot be trusted tobe legal, then no wood can.

© Dave Currey/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

An Appetite for Forest Destruction

7

Malaysia’s Reliance on Illegal Ramin
Malaysia’s Reliance on
Illegal Ramin

Most of
Malaysia’s
ramin
swamp
forests
have been
logged atleast once

Cutting, processing and export of raminwood formed the basis of the large-scale
timber industry in Malaysia in the early
1960s and fuelled a boom in the sector
which expanded rapidly over the next three
decades. Ramin exports peaked in the
1980s and by the 1990s most of Malaysia’speat swamp forests had been logged atleast once, and over-cutting coupled withpoor natural regeneration had dramaticallyreduced the legal supply of ramin logs in
the country.(21) Ramin has never beensuccessfully grown in plantations,(22) andwhile much of the industry turned toalternative species, many companies which
had become reliant on ramin turned to the
only other remaining source – the forests ofneighbouring Indonesia.
When the Indonesian ban and CITES
listing came into effect, independent
industry consultants estimated that as muchas 60 per cent of Malaysia’s ramin exports
were being sourced in Indonesia, with asmuch as 120 000 cubic metres of raminlogs needing to be imported legally andillegally each year to feed the Malaysian© Dave Currey/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Right:
Kalimantan
barge ‘Sumber
Mas XV’ ladenwith ramin,docked near
Batu Pahat, 9thAugust 2001

8

ramin industry.(23) Yet the level of raminexported from Malaysia has remained
steady since the beginning of 2002 whenlegal Indonesian exports ceased.(24) Given
that ramin production in Malaysia hascontinued to drop, the only possible
explanation is that illegal ramin fromIndonesia continues to be imported
unhindered by the new controls or
Malaysia’s commitments under CITES.
EIA/Telapak investigations since August
2001 have repeatedly proven that this isindeed the case.
In June 2001 Indonesian Customs
intercepted two ships, the KM Aiwan Jaya
and the KM Iqbal, carrying 360 tonnes oframin en route from Riau in Sumatra to
Batu Pahat, on the west coast of Peninsular
Malaysia.(25) In August, after the ramin
CITES listing came into effect, EIA/
Telapak investigators found the trade inillegally sourced Indonesian ramin to Batu
Pahat remained unaffected. On 9th Augustan Indonesian barge fully loaded withramin logs from Kalimantan was observed
moored at the wharf of Malaysian company
E.S. Ng Holdings Sdn Bhd just outside thetown. The barge had arrived that day.
Immigration facilities for Indonesian
seamen were seen at the timber yard,(26)Malaysia’s Reliance on Illegal Ramin

where unmarked Indonesian logs werebeing measured and labelled by auniformed official on a later visit.(27)Also in August 2001, EIA/Telapak
uncovered a thriving trade in illegal logs
from Indonesia, including large quantities
of ramin, in the historic Malaysian port
town of Melaka, just north of Batu Pahat.
Conversations with one of the crewmen on
the timber vessels revealed that thosecompanies involved in trading the ramin
were able to make a profit of around
US$200 on every cubic metre shipped.(28)
While Malaysian officials acting on
information supplied by EIA/Telapak madea seizure of illegal Indonesian ramin at
Melaka in August 2001,(29) EIA/Telapak
are not aware of any action being taken by
the authorities in Batu Pahat and it was
obvious that the trade in illicit ramin was
being allowed to continue relatively
unabated. The import operations for illegal
logs from Indonesia at Melaka moved to anew, larger but less conspicuous location
up the coast,(30) and a year later theIndonesian authorities were continuing tointercept wooden vessels in the Melaka

straits attempting to smuggle ramin to
Malaysia – this time squared logs en routeto Port Klang.(31)
Despite the information provided by EIA/
Telapak, Batu Pahat also remained a hub
for the trade in smuggled ramin. A nightraid by customs officers from Riau in
Sumatra in late March of 2003 netted a
vessel carrying more than 500 ramin logs
which was heading for Batu Pahat.(32) It
quickly became apparent that this was far
from an isolated case when a week later,
EIA/Telapak investigators found raminlogs from Indonesia at two separate landing
areas on the shores of the river in the town,
locations which can only by reached bypassing police and customs vessels.(33)
Investigators posing as timber dealers met
with the boss of one Malaysian timbercompany charged with overseeing thelanding of logs at one of the busiest wharfs
in Batu Pahat. Staff from the company
showed investigators fresh ramin logs piled
openly on the wharf in the centre of town
which the company had recently purchasedfrom Indonesia, and gave investigators atour of a nearby mill where the ramin was

Above:
Mounting
evidence of
Malaysia’s
trade in stolen
Indonesianramin, June
2001 toNovember 2003

9

Malaysia’s Reliance on Illegal Ramin© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

With mounting evidence showing the
movement of illegal Indonesian ramin into
Malaysia, the document trail also began topaint a picture of how this illegal ramin
was entering world markets. EIA
compared CITES permits received by US
customs authorities for shipments of raminfrom Malaysia between September 2001
and May 2002 with imports of items
described as ramin in shipping documents
during the same period. This analysis
showed that of almost 8000 cubic metresof ramin dowels, mouldings and otheritems which arrived from Malaysia during
the nine months in question, almost two
thirds – just under 5000 cubic metres –had been shipped from Malaysia andarrived in the USA illegally without
CITES permits.(36)
Above: Illegal
ramin logs fromIndonesia in Batu
Pahat, Malaysia ,April 2003

Far right: Copiesof CITES permits
were obtained
from USauthorities

By the end of
2003 it was
clear that
Malaysia’s
ramin exportindustry wascontinuing tofeed onramin stolenfromIndonesia’sforests

10

being sawn and moulded for export.(34)
Also in April 2003, EIA/Telapak were
informed by local people that about one inten of the dozens of Indonesian vessels
bringing illegal logs into the town of Muaron the coast of Peninsular Malaysia eachday were carrying ramin. These boats werefilmed queueing at a customs andimmigration facility in the centre of town
before being allowed to move upstream tounload their illicit cargo.(35)

Above: Seizures in Sumatra of ramin enroute to Malaysia, June 2001 & August 2002

By the end of 2003 it was clear that
Malaysia’s ramin export industry wascontinuing to feed on ramin stolen fromIndonesia’s forests, and that the illegal
Indonesian ramin seen being imported into
Malaysia was being shipped on to the main
consumer markets of China, Japan, Europe
and the US. Recent investigations by EIA/
Telapak now show the true scale andsophistication by which illegal Indonesianramin is being actively laundered throughMalaysia and on to unsuspecting CITES
Parties with the collusion of some
Malaysian authorities. Such fraud ismaking the consumers of ramin products
unwitting accessories to forest crime.

Johor Port—A Lesson in Laundering

In April 2003 EIA/Telapak exposed asmuggling operation moving illegal
Indonesian sawn ramin from Jambi in
Sumatra through Singapore to China.
During these investigations one
Singaporean timber dealer was introduced
to undercover investigators as a timbersmuggler and ‘mafia’.(37) Six months latera major Indonesian timber baron sent a
letter to enforcement authorities andjournalists in Indonesia detailing theactivities of a timber smuggling syndicate
involving the same man – Mr Frankie
Chua of the company Century Wood
Products Pte Ltd. Chua was named as a
key figure involved in the large scale
smuggling of illegal logs from Indonesia’sWest Papua province to China.(38)Recent EIA/Telapak investigations now
confirm the involvement of organised
crime syndicates in large scale raminlaundering. They also reveal how theSingaporean ramin smuggling operation
uncovered in early 2003 has since
expanded dramatically and moved across
the Johor Straits to Malaysia, where theillicit business has found a warm welcome
and a ready partner in the authorities
involved in running one of Malaysia’s
major ports.
In early November 2003, EIA/Telapak
investigators posing as executives of acompany interested in transshipment© A. Valentinus/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

A Lesson in Launderingbusiness visited Johor Port on the tip ofthe Malaysian peninsula, within sight ofSingapore. The port, also known as Pasir
Gudang, is twinned with a large container
terminal a few miles along the coast
called Tanjung Pelapas. These ports weredeveloped by Malaysia as part of adeliberate move to win business fromnearby Singapore, which is one of thebusiest ports in the world.
Both the Johor ports, as well as the
nearby airport, are owned via a web of
paper companies by Syed Mokhtar
Albukhary, one of Malaysia’s richest men
and a close associate of former Prime
Minister Mahathir. (39) Mokhtar is no
stranger to controversial business, having
recently purchased a controlling stake inthe much-criticised Bakun dam project inSarawak. (40) The ports are large by any
standard, and have been designed with asingle purpose in mind – to aid the freemovement of goods as cheaply as possible
and with an absolute minimum ofinterference from the authorities. Inline with this, both have Free Trade
Zones (FTZ) where goods can be stored
and transshipped outside of customs
control. (41)

Above: Illegal
Indonesianramin seized in
Singapore in
October 2002—
the ramin
smugglers havesince moved
their operations
to Malaysia

Left: Johor Port
advertisingbrochure11

Right: An
Indonesian
wooden cargovessel moored atJohor PortFar right: Mr
Abbas, Directorof the Break Bulk
Department of
the privatised
Johor Port
Authority

Below: Ramin
air-drying
outside awarehouse inJohor Port,
November 2003
Inset: Email fromthe shipping
agent, dated 20thDecember 2003,
explaining thelaundering
process© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Johor Port—A Lesson in Laundering

EIA/Telapak investigators were given a
guided tour of Johor Port’s facilities bystaff of the privatised Port Authority.
These facilities include a container
terminal visited by numerous shippinglines mostly serving East Asia, a gigantic
palm oil terminal, as well as ample
facilities for non-containerised bulk goods.
Staff bragged of how little paperwork was
involved in transshipping goods throughthe port and described the FTZ as ‘like athird world country’.(42)During the tour three huge warehouses
were seen within the FTZ filled with sawn
ramin wood. Investigators later met theport official in charge of bulk goods and a
representative from the shipping agentshandling the timber on behalf of the four orfive local companies which own the ramin.
The port official, Jack Abbas, confirmedthat all the sawn timber observed wasramin from Indonesia. He explained how
wooden vessels, each carrying around 150200 cubic metres of ramin, arrive at theport from Sumatra every day. The
unloaded ramin is stored in the warehouses
for two to four weeks to allow it to air-dry,
and is then packed into containers fortransshipment to Hong Kong, Taiwan andmainland China.
Abbas further revealed that in the springof 2002 he visited Singapore to persuade
companies involved in ramin transshipment
to switch their business to Johor, which

Dear Sam,I’m so sorry for the late reply because I’m away to Jakarta on businesstrip.
Anyway, to answer to earlier e-mail, let me explain the whole process
flow on the timber movement to you again in point form.
(1)

Timber from Indonesia is imported to Malaysia via Johor Port.

(2) Sorting, air drying, re-packing and staffing in to container within 6
weeks after discharging from the wooden boat in the Port’s free Zone
area. Timbers exported to Malaysia are without any Cites.

© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak(3) Containers in Johor Port will be exported to either HK or PRC withall the necessary documentations (BL, Phytosanitary Certificate,
Certificate of Origin, etc). The timber species will not indicate it as Raminbut another Tropical wood name that are almost the same as Ramin.

12(4) Containers arrived in HK / PRC and the agent will prepare anothernew set of documents that will also includes a new set of Certificate ofOrigin to indicate that this time the cargoes are originated from HK or
PRC. The re-export Cites will also be “Purchased” and issue out for
those mentioned cargoes going to EU or USA.
(5) As for the additional cost to buy the re-export cites, my partner is
now in PRC with the new agent. I will get back to you once he feed mewith the info.
(6) The re-export procedures that I have suggested it to you is thecommon method they normally practice to get the Ramin wood over to
EU or USA. Since the whole process is done in the Port’s Free Zone
area, the MTIB is not involve in controlling the timber movement.
Please feel free to e-mail me for any questions that hit your mind atanytime. I’ll do my level best to answer it.
Thank you and best personal regards,
Andrew Chew

Johor Port—A Lesson in Laundering

EXPORT FLOW CHART

MALAYSIA (EXPORTER)
Declare in the Malaysian Certificate Of Origin as any white
tropical wood to China or Hong Kong.

CHINA / HONG KONG
Agent in China or Hong Kong to "get" the Re-Export Cites
Certificate to re-export the containers to EU or USA

FINAL DESTINATION (EU / USA)POP the Champagne!!!!!!

they began doing in September of that year.
He estimated that around 4 500 cubic
metres of sawn ramin was now passing
though the port each month, mostly to
Shanghai and Hong Kong. In order to aid
the business further he was planning toinvest in a kiln to speed up the drying
process and so increase the volume oftimber which could be handled.
Abbas and the shipping agent, Andrew
Chew, drove investigators to view theramin timber, and demonstrated how eachbundle of timber was dated to show when it
arrived – most of the dates seen being from
October 2003. The two men stated that
there was no red tape involved intransshipping the timber and no permits
were required, and described how the FTZ
authority issue paperwork which disguises
the origin of the wood as Malaysian.
Abbas explained that there were controlson the Indonesian side, but indicated thatthe exporters were able to bypass thesewith money. The Indonesian ships havefalse port clearance documents stating theirdestination as the Indonesian island of
Batam near Singapore, but change course
at the last minute for Johor.
Most of the illegal ramin seen at Johor
comes from an area around the borders ofJambi and Riau provinces in Sumatra,
where illegal logging of ramin has beenrecorded in the protected areas of Berbak
National Park and the Kerumatan Wildlife
Reserve.(43)In a follow up meeting Chew revealed thefull details of the operation and thosebehind it. He told how “ninety-nine
percent of this ramin is smuggled”, that allof it was “CITES-free” and explained how
the port authority assists in constructing
false paper trails including Bills of Lading
to disguise the origin of the wood.
Although Chew admitted they were notable to obtain Malaysian CITES permits
for the ramin, he claimed he was able tosupply Certificates of Origin from the
Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture.
The Malaysian Timber Industry Board(MTIB), the government department
charged with implementing the ramin
CITES listing in Malaysia, have an officein Johor Port. Yet it was apparent that it
had failed to stop thousands of tonnes ofillicit ramin wood which had been blatantly
passing through the port for over a year.
Indeed, Chew confirmed to investigatorsthat the staff of the office have been wellaware all along that Indonesian ramin
without CITES permits was beingtransshipped through the port. The
shipping agent also claimed to have been
told by the timber trade authorities that aslong as the ramin did not pass Customs in
Malaysia there would be no problem.
Chew revealed that all the ramin passing
through the port was purchased from one
man in Sumatra, whom he called the“ramin king”. Named by another source as‘Jambi Lee’, this mysterious figure owns afleet of more than sixty wooden ships used
for smuggling ramin and illegal squared
logs to Malaysia. Described as the‘number 3’ in an ethnic-Chinese© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

INDONESIA (IMPORT)
Ramin wood.

Above: Raminlaundering flow
chart supplied by
Mr Chew, seen in
front of stacks of
air-drying
Indonesian ramin atJohor Port

“Ninety-nine
per cent of
this ramin issmuggled ...
all thisramin thatyou see is
CITES-free”
Andrew Chew,
Shipping Agent at
Johor Port,
November 2003

13© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Johor Port—A Lesson in Laundering

Above:
Container
vessel atJohor Port,
November
2003
Below: Ramin
picture framemoulding onsale in the UK

Almost twice
as muchillegalIndonesianramin isbeing
launderedthrough
Johor Port
than islegally
produced in
the whole of
Malaysia

14

Indonesian organised crime ring, he wasreputedly a dollar millionaire by the age ofthirty and owns mansions in Sumatra,
Batam and Singapore.
Chew told of meetings with ‘Jambi Lee’at a seafood restaurant near Johor Port, andhad also met the crime syndicate’s ‘number
2’. He also described how the syndicate
has bought off local Indonesian customs
officials and harbour masters and uses its
influence to have any attempted shipmentsby competitors stopped.
It was later confirmed in writing that thesawn ramin in the port is mostly shipped to
Shanghai and Hong Kong, with an averageof more than 150 twenty and forty footshipping containers being transferred to thetwo destinations each month. The
shipping agent explained that the ramin,
mostly in 4 inch widths, is used to
manufacture picture frames and pool &billiard cues in China for re-export.
Most of the world’s wooden cues are
manufactured in China by Taiwanese-run© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

companies. In the US, more than 80 000
illegal ramin billiard cues from China
worth more than US$ 1 million have been
seized over the past two years in five
separate hauls.(44) Court cases are currently
pending against one large US cue
distributor accused of importing Chinese
ramin cues into the west coast port of
Seattle without CITES permits twice in thespace of just two months.(45) In the UK
EIA surveys in 2003 have also revealed
continuing imports by major distributors of
ramin cues without the proper legal
documents.(46)Though ramin trees are now rare andendangered, cues made from the wood areamongst the cheapest available in westernmarkets. One UK dealer told EIA that he
was unable to match the low prices offered
for ramin cues by competitors, which retailin bulk for as little as US$2.(47) Large
numbers of cheap pre-formed ramin picture
frames made in China can also easily befound on sale in Japan, Europe and the US.
The large scale laundering of stolen
Indonesian ramin timber seen at Johor ismasking the true cost of these consumer
products by providing raw materials at a
black-market discount.
In subsequent communications Chew
went on to explain in detail how it would
be easy to further launder the illegal raminthrough China, where he claimed shipping
contacts have in the past been able to ‘buy’
the CITES re-export permits needed tobring it to Europe or the US. He evenprovided a flowchart to illustrate thelaundering process, ending with thelegalised ramin safely arrived in the USA
or Europe and an invitation to ‘pop thechampagne’.
Overall, as much as 70 000 cubic metresof banned Indonesian ramin is being
smuggled to China and Hong Kong
through Johor Port each year in as many as2000 shipping containers. Malaysia’s own
supply of legal ramin is estimated to be in
the region of 80-90 000 cubic metres oflogs per year,(48) which alone could
produce no more than 35-45 000 cubic
metres of ramin sawn timber. Almost
twice as much illegal Indonesian ramin isbeing laundered through Johor Port eachmonth, under the watchful eyes of theauthorities, than is legally produced in thewhole of Malaysia.

Sarawak—State Sanctioned Smuggling

The Malaysian state of Sarawak is thebirthplace of the ramin industry, but by
1990 a mission by the International
Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO)
reported that ramin in Sarawak was beingheavily overcut,(49) and by the turn of the
century, vast tracts of Sarawak’s peatswamp forest had been converted into palm
oil plantations, while most of the remainder
was logged out.(50) Despite the current
scarcity of productive ramin forest
concessions in Sarawak many ramindealers in the industry centre of Sibu
continue to do substantial business. EIA/
Telapak investigations have shown that,just as in Peninsular Malaysia, this isbecause Sarawak’s shrinking ramin
reserves are being supplemented by illegal
wood from Indonesia.
Vast quantities of illegally sourced
Indonesian wood enter Sarawak each day,mostly through three checkpoints run by
the Harwood Company, a subsidiary of thegovernment-run Sarawak Timber Industry
Development Corporation (STIDC).(51) In
late 2001, industry sources estimated thatbetween 10 and 20 per cent of the half amillion cubic metres of timber passing
through Harwood’s depots was ramin.(52)This includes ramin illegally logged in theprotected wetland area of Danau Santarum,
in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan state,
which is brought into Sarawak through the
Harwood facility at Lubok Antu.(53) As
recently as October 2003, a truck loadedwith illegal Indonesian ramin wood wasseized in the town.(54)
All of the ramin timber originating or
brought into Sarawak is destined forexport, either in raw form or as semifinished mouldings and dowels (woodenrods). Most of the shipment records
obtained by EIA for imports of ramin wood
into the USA are for shipments of dowels
and mouldings from Sarawak, and morethan half are from one company based in
Sibu called Koh Ying Sdn Bhd. Regular
US importers of ramin from Koh Ying
identified in shipping data include thecompanies H. Arnold Wood Turning, theHermitage Trading Company andIndowood Forest Products. (55)

© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Sarawak – StateSanctioned Smuggling

Though there is no evidence thesecompanies have been acting illegally, it
seems they may unwittingly have been
receiving products made from stolen wood.
Comparison of shipping data withpermits received by US Customs indicatesaround half of the shipments of ramin from
Sarawak arriving in the USA are
unaccompanied by Malaysian CITES
documents, including around 35 per cent ofAbove: Mr Haof Allied
LumberBelow: Ramin
seized bySarawakauthorities at
Lubok Antu,
October 2003

15

Sarawak—State Sanctioned Smuggling

The Koh Ying Connection
Right: Philip Law, Managing Director of Koh Ying

© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Below: Malaysian CITES permit issued to Koh Ying
for a shipment of ramin dowels which was exported
to the USA

Below right: The 6000m3 of ramin in Koh Ying’s
warehouse in Sibu, from the company’s brochure

Comparison of registered imports into the US of ramin dowels andmouldings from Koh Ying in Sarawak with CITES permits received forthese shipments by US authorities
Imports recorded at US ports

Aug 01—Jun 02

3155 m3*

CITES permits received

Aug 01—Jun 02

2033 m3
1122 m3

DEFICIT*Converted from weight using 680kg/m3
Source: US Port Import Export Reporting Service; CITES permits obtained from US Fish and Wildlife Service

Koh Ying’s shipments (see table above).(56)Indeed, another company supplied withramin dowels by Koh Ying, Mohawk
Handle of Canada, have already had one
shipment of illegally sourced ramin wood
products seized by US authorities.(57)
While most of the shipments made by Koh
Ying to the companies mentioned above
are nevertheless accompanied by thecorrect paperwork, EIA/Telapak have now
learned how even those shipments with
Malaysian CITES Certificates of Origin
may be of illegal Indonesian origin.

16

Koh Ying are supplied with much of theirramin sawn timber by a company called
Allied Lumber, also based in Sibu.(58) In
October 2003, undercover EIA/Telapak
investigators jointly met with executives
from Allied Lumber and Koh Ying, andtoured Koh Ying’s large factory complex,
which was filled with the sound of raminbeing machined as workers preparedshipments of dowels for the US, Europe
and Japan and artist’s paintbrush handles
for shipment to France. While Philip Law,
the owner of Koh Ying, was quick toSarawak—State Sanctioned Smuggling
laundered Indonesian wood to supplement
its local supplies, and obtains CITES
permits from STIDC in turn for the
mouldings they produce from it.
The process described by Ha wascorroborated in testimony to EIA from an
independent industry source.(59) Ha told
investigators that he believes around 30-40
per cent of the ramin exported from
Sarawak as origin Malaysia is actually
illegal Indonesian wood laundered in thismanner. This represents at least 2000
cubic metres of sawn timber every month,plus approximately the same quantity of
dowels and mouldings.(60)
In 2002 US customs seized a shipment of
100 000 ramin dowels worth an estimated
US$10 000 which had arrived from
Malaysia without a CITES permit.(61) Yet
it seems this shipment of around 12 cubic
metres was the tip of the iceberg. If Ha’s
figures are correct, the USA alone isreceiving approximately 150 cubic metresof laundered Indonesian ramin from
Sarawak with bogus Malaysian CITES
permits each and every month, in addition
to the 500 cubic metres which apparently
arrives without any documentation at all.

Ha told
investigatorsthat 30-40
per cent of
the ramin
exportedfrom
Sarawak as
origin
Malaysia islaunderedIndonesianwood

Below: Ramin peatswamp forest© A. Ruwindrijarto/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

assure us that all of his ramin is Malaysian
and that he can easily obtain Malaysian
CITES permits, Ha Tung Hoo of Allied
Lumber later explained how much of thestockpile of 6000 cubic metres of ramin
stored in Koh Ying’s warehouses islaundered Indonesian wood.
Ha admitted to importing illegal raminfrom Indonesia in the past, and explained
in detail how Indonesian ramin islaundered through the Sibu mills. He
explained how cargo vessels bring theramin from Indonesia to the port ofTanjung Manis, a new development
downstream from Sibu, despite STIDC
rules which state that timber fromIndonesia may only be brought in by sea at
the town of Sematan, 200 kilometres away.
He alleged that Malaysian customs are paid
to allow the illegal shipment through, andthe vessels then sail on to unload at mills
on the Sibu river. Staff from STIDC in
Sibu, which is the local branch of the
Malaysian CITES Management Authority,then apparently come to the mill and for apayment issue CITES permits certifying
the ramin as origin Malaysia, despite being
well aware of the true origin of the wood.
Koh Ying then allegedly buys the already17Illegal Malaysian Ramin Furniture

Below: Ramincrib parts
inside one of
Twins’
factories in
Kuantan© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Inset: Twins’
brochure

18

Illegal Malaysian Ramin
Furniture
Twins Furniture is a Malaysian
manufacturer of wooden baby furniture
based in Kuantan in Peninsular Malaysia.
It is one of the world’s top five producersof baby furniture and exports products allover the world. It specialises in the
production of wooden baby cribs or cots,
most of which are made with ramin wood.
Twins currently exports around 60
shipping containers a month to its mainmarkets of Europe, the US, Japan andAustralia.(62)
EIA/Telapak investigators posing as
potential buyers visited Twins in
November 2003 and were shown aroundthe company’s large network of factories.
The marketing manager repeatedly assured
them that no special permits would beneeded to export ramin cribs to the UK
or USA, and the company owner, Stanley
Goh, confirmed that Twins regularly
exports ramin cribs to these andother destinations without CITES export
permits.(63)© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Right: Raminlogs at Twins’
sawmill

Details of CITES permits received by
Customs in the USA and the UK obtainedby EIA show no legal imports of raminbaby furniture from Malaysia,(64) further
confirming the illegality of these
shipments. While Malaysia has officiallyrefused to stand by its CITES commitments
regarding ramin parts and products, these
shipments are nevertheless illegal.
While admitting to exporting raminfurniture without CITES permits, Twins’
executives were careful to reassure EIA/
Telapak investigators that all of thecompany’s ramin wood raw material was
sourced from legal forest concessions in
Peninsular Malaysia which they operatethemselves. This claim is difficult tobelieve, as while Goh told investigatorsthat the company have 8000 tonnes (11 000
cubic metres) of ramin in stock which
originated in the local forests of Pahangstate, figures show the entire annual legal
supply of ramin logs from the forests ofPeninsular Malaysia could barely supply
half this amount.(65)Indeed, when investigators located thecompany’s sawmill they found squared
ramin logs which a mill worker stated hadcome from Indonesia. While local
Malaysian ramin logs were seen, a worker
explained that these are supplemented
by regular truck loads of Indonesian raminwhich arrive via barges into the nearby© Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Illegal Malaysian Ramin Furniture

Above and right: The ‘Sleigh’ crib on sale at a ‘Pottery
Barn Kids’ store in the US. Shipping documents show
the crib was imported from Kuantan in Malaysia, ismade of ramin and has a Twins’ Furniture product code.

port of Kuantan. Such shipments must beof illegal origin. It also seems that theworld of illegal ramin trade is a small one:a recent visitor to Twins’ factory as
recorded in their visitor’s book was a
Roland Ha of Allied Lumber in Sarawak –the elder brother of the very man who only
two weeks earlier had described in detail
to EIA/Telapak investigators the process
by which illegal Indonesian ramin isbrought into Malaysia and provided withbogus CITES permits.(66)
Twins claim to supply products to anumber of retailers in the UK either direct
or via UK agents or middlemen, including
a major UK distributor called Cosatto.
Tiny Kins, a UK mail order supplier, offera Cosatto ramin ‘toddler’ bed for £99.99.
Tiny Kins stated to EIA investigators that
Cosatto had informed them the bed camefrom Malaysia, where Twins is the only
supplier of such products.(67)
US import data supplied by PIERS
shows two companies, Dream on Me, Inc.
of New York and GD Products Ltd of
Canada, have recently imported baby cribs
from Twins, though it is not clear what

species of wood these were manufactured
from. A third company, Williams Sonoma
Inc, have been shipping ramin cribs from
Kuantan in Malaysia where Twins’
factory is based. Though the sourcecompany name has been withheld, theproduct code matches that of one of
Twins’ products. Williams Sonoma are
the parent company of the major US
children’s retailer Pottery Barn Kids.(68)
While Pottery Barn have recently
discontinued one line of ramin cribs,
another known as the ‘Sleigh’ crib
continues to be sold in stores. Although
clearly identified in PIERS import data as
manufactured from ramin wood, the bed,
which retails for US$700, is advertised as
being manufactured from maple.(69)
While there is no evidence to suggestthat the UK and US retailers named above
have knowingly broken any law, EIA/
Telapak’s investigations have shown thatthese products are likely to have been
imported without the proper CITES
permits, and they may also have been
manufactured from endangered trees
stolen from Indonesia’s national parks.

19

Recommendations

Right: Sawmill
near Tanjung
PutingNational Park
processing
ramin
Opposite:
Ramin tree

20

Recommendations•

Importers and consumers of ramin, especially in the major markets of North
America, Europe and East Asia must not buy any ramin or ramin products at this
time.

•

Malaysia must investigate and prosecute those persons, companies and officials
found to have been involved in the smuggling and laundering of illegal ramin.
Malaysia must withdraw its reservation to the ramin CITES listing and takeurgent steps to halt all imports, transhipments and re-exports of illegal
Indonesian ramin.

•

The government of Malaysia must formally endorse the East Asia Forest Law
Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) Declaration and draw up an action plan topursue the commitments made within it.

•

The government of Indonesia must improve enforcement of the ban on ramin
cutting and export, and must investigate, arrest and prosecute ‘Jambi Lee’ andany other persons including corrupt officials involved in smuggling ramin.

•

The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia should hold a ministerial-levelmeeting to discuss and resolve the illegal trade in timber between the twocountries.

•

Customs and CITES authorities in Singapore, China, and Taiwan must carry out
thorough investigations into their ramin business.

•

CITES parties should authorize a technical and political mission to Malaysia toinvestigate the illegal trade in ramin.

© Sam Lawson/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

Importers
andconsumersof ramin,especiallyin themajor
markets ofNorth
America,
Europe andEast Asia
must notbuy any
ramin orramin
products

© Julian Newman/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

References

Expert Group on Forest Management, Jan 1996;
Independent consultant’s report commissioned by EIA/
Telapak, 2001
1) Forest Watch Indonesia, as quoted in Jakarta Post, 29th22) ibid
October 2003
23) ibid
2) Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on24) ibid
Sustainable Development (Revised), 23rd September25) Malaysian Export Statistics
2002, G8 Summit, Birmingham 1998
26) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,3) Speech by World Bank Indonesia Director Mark Baird
August 2001
to FLEG Conference, Bali, Sept 200127) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,4) Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA),
April 2003
Controlling the International Trade in Illegally Logged28) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
Timber and Wood Products, Feb 2002
August 2001
5) ibid29) Borneo Bulletin, 21st September 2001
6) ibid30) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,7) Consultative Group on Indonesian Forestry (CGIF),
May 2002
Jakarta, Sept 199631) SCTV News Indonesia, August 2002
8) Bryant et al, World Resources Institute, ‘The Last
32) Batam Pos, 31/03/03
Frontier Forests’ 1997
33) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
9) Forest Watch Indonesia, as quoted in Jakarta Post, 29th
April 2003
October 200334) ibid10) Indonesia-UK Tropical Forest Management35) ibid
Programme 1999
36) PIERS Import data; CITES permits obtained from
11) EIA/Telapak Indonesia, The Final Cut, 1999; EIA/US Fish & Wildlife Service, July 2002
Telapak, Timber Trafficking, 200137) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,12) EIA/Telapak, Timber Trafficking, 2001
April 2003
13) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
38) Trust Magazine, August 2003
14) International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO),
39) The Star Online, 30th August 2003, Asiawise, 17th
Annual Review and Assessment of The World Timber
December 2001
Situation, 200140) The Asian Wall Street Journal 05 September 2003
15) Malaysian Timber Council, 2002
41) Johor Port website and brochure November 2003
16) WWF/World Bank, ‘Overview of Forest Law
42) All information in this chapter not otherwise
Enforcement in East Malaysia’, March 2001
referenced is from an EIA/Telapak Internal Report of17) WWF Malaysia/World Bank, Overview of Forest
Field Investigation, November 2003, including still &Law Enforcement in East Malaysia, 2001
video evidence18) Memo by Dr .David W Brown, September 2002
43) EIA/Telapak, Timber Trafficking, 200119) EIA/Telapak, Timber Trafficking, 2001; EIA/
44) Pers. comm., US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS),
Telapak Briefing Document, Timber Traffickers, May
2002
2003
45) US Public Access to Court Electronic Records20) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,(PACER) electronic system, December 2003
October 2003
46) EIA Internal Report of Telephone Survey, July 2003
21) Report of the Malaysia-The Netherlands Ad-Hoc47) EIA Internal Report of Telephone Survey, July 2003

References48) Independent consultant’s report commissioned by
EIA/Telapak, 2001
49) CITES Doc 9.53: Interpretation and Implementationof the Convention – Trade in Plant Specimens: Ramin,
199450) Report of the Malaysia-The Netherlands Ad-Hoc
Expert Group on Forest Management, Jan 1996;
Independent consultant’s report commissioned by EIA/
Telapak, 2001
51) EIA/Telapak, Timber Trafficking, 2001
52) Pers. comm., confidential, 19/8/01
53) EIA/Telapak Field Investigations, 2000-2001
54) Sarawak Tribune, 1st November 2003
55) PIERS Import Data, 2001-2002
56) PIERS Import Data 2001-2002; CITES Permits
obtained from US Fish & Wildlife Service, July 2002
57) US Public Access to Court Electronic Records(PACER) electronic system, December 2003
58) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
October 2003
59) Pers. Comm., Confidential, August 2003
60) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
October 2003
61) Pers. comm., USFWS, 2002
62) Twins Furniture Sdn Bhd, website and brochure,
200363) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
November 2003
64) CITES permits obtained from US Fish & Wildlife
Service, July 2002; Pers. comm., UK CITESManagement Authority, July 2003
65) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
November 2003; Independent consultant’s reportcommissioned by EIA/Telapak, 2001
66) EIA/Telapak Internal Report of Field Investigation,
November 2003
67) Pers. comm., Twins Furniture Sdn Bhd executives,
2003; Tiny Kins website—www.tiny-kins.co.uk; Pers.
comm., Tiny Kins, December 2003
68) PIERS Import Data
69) PIERS Data; Pottery Barn Kids website, Jan 2004

Back cover: Illegal logs in West Papua, Indonesia
Back cover picture: © Dave Currey/Environmental Investigation Agency/Telapak

21

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