An open letter to the President of Indonesia

[Guest guest]

An Open Letter to the President of the Republic of Indonesia regarding the

repatriation of Indonesian orangutans from Thailand

 

 

 

The Indonesian government's diplomatic efforts, lobbying and the NGOs' long

hard campaigns demanding the repatriation of hundreds of illegally exported

Indonesian orangutans to Safari World in Thailand have finally borne a

positive result. On 23rd September 2006, 41 orangutans previously exploited

for " kick-boxing " shows at the Thai Safari World are going to be returned to

Indonesia.

 

 

 

The orangutans are to be transported back to Indonesia by a Hercules

aircraft and officially met upon arrival by the First Lady, Madam Kristiani

Yudhoyono, together with the team from the Department of Forestry and a

commercial company, Messrs Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI).

 

 

 

In respect of the repatriation of the above Indonesian orangutans, we, six

Indonesian NGOs consisting of ProFauna Indonesia, Animal Advocacy Institute

(LASA), Indonesian Society for Animal Welfare (ISAW), BEBSIC Kalimantan

Timur, Aliansi untuk Satwa Indonesia (AuSI) and Forum for Forest and Animals

(FORESTA) wish to state the following:

 

 

 

1. We welcome the repatriation of 41 Indonesian orangutans to be cared

for at the Orangutan Reintroduction Centre in Kalimantan with the sole

objective of returning them to the wild following their rehabilitation.

There are more than sufficient trained human resources and facilities

provided at the Orangutan Reintroduction Centre in Kalimantan and the PPSs

(Wildlife Rescue Centres) to care for all of the orangutans that will be

arriving.

 

 

 

2. We strongly object to the involvement of Taman Safari Indonesia

(TSI) in this process due to the fact that TSI hold their own orangutan

" shows " , exploiting the orangutans for commercial purposes in a manner

similar to the exploitation received by the very orangutans being returned

from Safari World in Thailand. Taman Safari Indonesia has never been

involved with our efforts in campaigning and organizing the return of these

apes at any stage in the process and we see no reason why they are now

involved in the final stage of the repatriation of the orangutans.

 

 

 

3. On 24th July 2006, two orangutans illegally exported and confiscated

in Vietnam were repatriated to Indonesia. At that time these orangutans

were temporarily entrusted to the care of Taman Safari Indonesia for

quarantine purposes and the government at the time promised that the two

orangutans would be sent to the orangutan re-introduction centre. However,

to date these orangutans are still being kept at TSI. We ask that the

Department of Forestry immediately send these two orangutans to the

re-introduction centre so that they can receive a rehabilitation program as

soon as possible, in order to adapt them to life in the wild again.

 

 

 

4. We hope that the Kalimantan Orangutan Reintroduction Centre which

has been entrusted with the care of the orangutans from Thailand will

provide information to the general public on their condition and progress

during their rehabilitation with the purpose of ensuring transparency on

their well being.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

On behalf of the coalition of NGOs for orangutans:

 

 

 

- Asep Rahmat Purnama (Chairman of ProFauna Indonesia)

 

Email: profauna <profuna

 

 

 

- Irma Hermawati, SH (Director of LASA)

 

Email: lasa