Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Approximately 20 percent of the forest in Mount Leuser National Park in North Sumatra had been illegally felled by the year 2000, local officials have announced, adding foreign investors might have been involved.

About 170,000 hectares of forests, or around 20 percent of the national park's total forest area of 842,000 hectares, vanished by 2000, said Jamal M. Gawi, the forest coordinator of the Leuser Management Unit on Thursday.

Illegal loggers raided the forest's South and southeastern section, which is home to much of the park's abundant flora and fauna, he said.

The disappearance of such a huge forest area, he said, had led to a drop in the number of orangutans in the park, which in 1998 stood at 6,000 half the number recorded in 1992.

Jamal said that a two-year investigation by his unit pointed to the involvement of a South Korean investor in the illegal logging operation.

The investor, whom Jamal called Mr. Kim, financed and planned the illegal logging activities.

Local councillor Zaidan BS also supported Jamal's claim that foreign investors were involved in the illegal trade.

Zaidan suspected an American investor from Malaysia had been organizing illegal logging operations, though he declined to reveal any details.

According to him, it had been difficult to infiltrate illegal logging groups.

The head of the North Sumatra Ministry of Forestry office, Darori, said he had never heard about foreign investors participating in illegal logging, unlike their local peers.

He said his office had done all it could to protect the national park's trees: "But we lack police personnel to guard the entire area".

Jamal said it was difficult to curb illegal logging because it sometimes involves local officials and security personnel.

"Looking at the police's inaction we may suspect their involvement," Jamal said.

He said that illegal timber is usually transported to Medan for documentation clearance so they can pass off as legal exports.

Jamal cited two locations in Medan where the paper clearance took place: at Jl. Binjai and Jl. Tanjung Sari. Once cleared, the logs are shipped abroad through the Belawan and Tanjung Balai harbors.

Zaidan called the export route through Tanjung Balai the illegal loggers' "silk road", named after the famous trade route linking Europe with China.

"Every month about 5,000 tons of illegal timber is shipped out of Indonesia along 'the silk road'," he said, adding the state must be suffering billions of rupiah in lost tax revenues as a result.

Illegal logging also threatens the local timber industry and the livelihood of some 70,000 workers there, he added.