Logs in Floods in North Sumatra, Alex Indra Lukman Asks Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni to Prepare a Complete Exposure

FAJAR.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The floods that hit the island of Sumatra, triggered by a tropical cyclone, have become a widespread concern for various parties. Moreover, hundreds of lives were lost as a result of this disaster.

This flood disaster also put the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) in the spotlight. The performance of the Minister of Forestry (Menhut), Raja Juli Antoni, is also of concern because he is considered to have failed to prevent the practice of destroying forest areas on the island.

One indication of this is the large number of logs that were carried away by the flood currents and hit the city of Padang. The logs are thought to have come from unprocedural or even illegal logging practices.

Regarding this condition, Deputy Chairman of Commission IV DPR RI, Alex Indra Lukman, said that his party would summon the Minister of Forestry (Menhut), Raja Juli Antoni, to discuss allegations of deforestation as a trigger for floods and landslides in northern Sumatra.

“Thursday, December 4, we have invited the Ministry of Forestry for a presentation, moreover, we have also read the statement from the Minister of Forestry that he will carry out an evaluation,” he said in response to media crew at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (2/12).

The legislator from the PDI Perjuangan faction said that the meeting was deliberately held on Thursday so that the Ministry of Forestry could maximize its presentation.

“Partners, in this case the Ministry of Forestry, can prepare a good and complete presentation,” said Alex.

He realized that recently a different phenomenon had emerged in Indonesia, namely extreme rainfall which could cause flooding.