Business falls as illegal loggers flee

The Jakarta Post, Mar 11, 2006: Business falls as illegal loggers flee SAMPIT, Central Kalimantan: It's commonly recognized that a good business climate comes in tandem with strong law enforcement. But it does not seem to apply in Central Kalimantan's Kotawaringin Timur regency capital of Sampit, with hotel operators and textile traders reporting a slump in business as the law closes in on illegal loggers, Antara news service reported Friday. Syarifuddin said his hotel suffered an 80 percent decline in occupancy since the Kotawaringin Timur police conducted recent raids. "Previously, our 50-room hotel had always been 100 percent occupied. But, now there are only 10 to 12 tenants a day," he said of his Permata Hotel. Textile traders are ruing a similar downturn. "Traders complain of bad business lately, with many of us selling nothing in a day, compared with the period before the police raids when we could sell from two to three pieces of cloth daily ... Sales even improved on weekends," said Guldani, a textile trader and secretary of the Sampit Market Traders Union. It's therefore a challenge for the local government, and also perhaps the central government, to overturn the uncommon theorem -- uphold the law, but at the same time help local businesses stay afloat.