REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The government would contact its representative abroad to ask Walt Disney Company`s clarification on statement over calling global consumer to boycott paper products that are manufactured in Indonesia, an official said.
"As Walt Disney is a private company, we will invite it to explain what kind of boycott it attempts to do," Vice Minister of Trade Bayu Krisnamurthi said in Jakarta, Thursday.
Previously some media said that world`s biggest publisher, Walt Disney Company, decided to discontinue the use of paper from Indonesia due to tropical forest management issues that were considered illegal. Bayu clearly denied the claims by explaining the government had always tried to ensure that exported pulp and paper products from Indonesia were qualified as environmentally friendly products.
"Even we have already issued the regulation to forbid illegal timber export recently, so we are the only country to lay down the rule," he said.
According to Bayu, the Walt Disney`s statement was baseless as they are not defining the reason of the boycott explicitly. The vice minister said that Indonesian pulp and paper export around the world reached 5,8 billion USD during last year, which consisting 4,2 billions USD of paper products and 1,6 billions USD of pulps.
Although it was estimated that the number of Indonesia`s paper exports paper to Walt Disney was small scale, yet Bayu pointed that the company could have a substantial impact publications that need to be clarified.