The Jakarta Globe

February 7, 2009

Opinion / Letters / Article

I am writing concerning your article on Feb. 1, 2009, by Arti Ekawati, “Perhutani Favors Lifting Ban on Teak Exports.”

If this ban was introduced to help combat illegal logging, what has now changed that makes Forestry Minister Kaban believe such logs can be exported within the law? Kaban is already on public record as showing his personal sympathy and support toward illegal loggers — quite why, one can only imagine — but this alone makes it hard to trust him when he shows such enthusiasm for shipping more of Indonesia’s natural heritage to far-off lands such as Japan.

And how can it be possible that the Ministry of Forestry, responsible as it is for selling off forests to the highest bidder, can also be responsible for protecting wildlife in the very same forests? If this is not a conflict of interest, what is? Millions of animals have died at the hands of the Ministry of Forestry. Hardly a day goes by without news of more forests being felled illegally, protected wild animals being killed or traded. Tens of thousands of orangutans alone have been killed on Kaban’s watch.

Would it not be more logical if the responsibility for taking care of Indonesia’s unique wildlife fell under the State Ministry for the Environment? If so, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will need to act fast, while there is still some forest and wildlife left to save. It’s time for someone to step up and take responsibility for Indonesia’s rapidly disappearing forests and wildlife.

Sean Whyte,
Nature Alert chief executive

www.naturealert.org

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/article/8857.html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.