Your Letters: May 20

Ministry Dragging Feet on Orangutans

Tony Suhartono, the Forestry Ministry’s director of biodiversity conservation, has been offered dozens, maybe hundreds of times, all the money and expertise available to rescue orangutans.

N o one has ever suggested the orangutans should be rescued and immediately released, as he said in your paper on May 16 (“Forestry Ministry Called On to Help Rescue Orangutans”). He knows this.

What we all need is for Tony to stop making excuses and dragging his feet on this issue and instead show us some leadership by issuing instructions to have these orangutans rescued and transferred to the Nyaru Menteng rescue/rehab center, now.

A week ago, Tony told the Jakarta Globe he wanted to know about illegally held captive orangutans. Well, now that he does, why won’t he authorize the rescue of these eight orangutans without further delay? If he was to try working with the Center for Orangutan Protection instead of resisting their help and making excuses, more orangutans would be rescued with no negative impact on your Ministry. What we are all wondering is: Does Tony Suhartono really want to see orangutans rescued?

Sean Whyte , Nature Alert

An Environmental Disaster in Palm Oil

I would like to express my sadness to see and hear of the recent destruction of what was once pristine rainforest in the area of Sangetta and Bontang to make way for more palm oil plantations.

This is in total violation of lndonesia’s promise to stop this environmental disaster, yet all reasoning seems to fall on deaf ears when one tries to make the world aware of what is happening in Indonesia and Malaysia. We, as guardians of this planet, have to stop the palm oil companies with their corrupt dealings with sectors of these governments. Please wake up to what is happening before another day is over.

Janelle Tuero, Australia

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.