Mystery Still Shrouds Alleged Orangutan Slaughter in E Kalimantan

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Last September, a newspaper in Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan Province, received photos from a local resident allegedly showing orangutans being slaughtered.

The alleged orangutan killings reportedly had occurred from 2009 to 2010 at Puan Cepak village, Muara Kaman sub district, Kutai Kartanegara District, East Kalimantan Province. Kalimantan or Borneo Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) are often considered as a pest by plantation companies.

Chairman of the East Kalimantan Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) Mukmin Faisyal has urged police to investigate the alleged killings of the endangered and protected animals.

"I ask the legal enforcers to fully investigate the case and bring the perpetrators to court, no matter what excuses they have. The primates must be protected," Mukmin Faisyal said in Samarinda recently.

He regretted that the rare primates living in East Kalimantan are seen as a pest at oil palm plantations and not protected by certain parties. The forestry ministry’s forest protection and nature conservation director, Darori, said in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, Sumatra, recently that his office in cooperation with police, has carried out an investigation into the case.

He suspected that certain companies operating in East Kalimantan were behind the slaughter of orangutans. "We will punish companies ordering the killings."

The Kutai Kartanegara police have deployed a team to Muara Kaman since September 27, 2011, to investigate the alleged slaughter of orangutans.

"Until now, we have not yet found the bones or skulls of orangutans reported to have been killed three or two years ago," Kutai Kartanegara Police Chief Senior Adjunct Commissioner I Gusti KB Harryarsana, said in Kutai on October 26, 2011.

"Up to now, we have questioned 30 witnesses, including from companies operating at Puan Cepak village which was said to be the location of the orangutan slaughter," I Gusti said, adding that however, none of the witnesses said that they had heard or seen the slaughter.

"The current focus is now not to get confessions but to find evidence. If it is true there had been orangutan killings, there must be evidence, namely the animals’ skulls. Our team has been looking for the evidence in Muara Kaman sub district since a month ago."

Kadir, Puan Cepak Village Head in Muara Kaman sub district, Kutai Kartanegara District, earlier admitted that the killings of orangutans had occurred around two or three years ago, before he became the village head.

He said many of the villagers knew about it and he suspected that local inhabitants had been paid by oil palm plantations operating in the village to kill orangutans considered as pests by the plantation companies.

"At present, the orangutan population is only 10 heads (at the village)."

However, Arsil, the Muara Kaman security section head, said he had never heard about the alleged orangutan slaughter.

"For all I know, there has never been interaction between orangutans and local people because the protected animals live inside the jungle and never approach the human settlement area. They even run away when they see human beings," Arsil said.

According to Arsil, the Orangutan population in Muara Kaman sub district is around 200 heads. The Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) earlier urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to instruct the Forestry Ministry and the National Police to protect orangutans from the cruelty and brutality of palm oil plantation companies in Kalimantan.

"The slaughter of orangutans as a direct impact of deforestation in the interest of palm oil plantations is a crime that involves the plantation workers, the companies’ staffs, and also the government agencies that issued the permits to open plantations in areas that are orangutan habitats," Daniek, a campaigner of COP, said as quoted in a COP’ press statement on October 11, 2011.

"Until today, there is no law enforcement against wildlife law violations. The Forestry Ministry, especially the Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency, do not have sufficient evidence to arrest the criminals, because political and economic interests are involved. So, we need direct action by the President to strengthen the law, spur and encourage the law enforcing agencies to investigate cases of orangutans slaughter, especially those committed by Malaysian companies," he said.

Daniek said the slaughter of apes that occurred in the concession areas of Metro Kajang and AUS in Muara Kaman, East Kalimantan, recently was just a fraction of what was really happening to orangutans in East Kalimantan.

According to the NGO, at least 1,200 orangutans are currently in rehabilitation centers, and most of them were palm oil plantation victims.

"If one orangutan at a rehabilitation center represents 2 to 10 orangutans that have been killed, we estimate that in reality some 2.400 to 12.000 orangutans were exterminated," he added.

"Enough is enough. It’s time for us to enforce the law. This is a horrendous crime that needs to be stopped. If we do not enforce the law strictly, orangutans will continue to be killed. Indonesian laws should not be disregarded," he stated.

The NGO activist said that the COP was ready to give its full support to government efforts to find and present witnesses (to instances of orangutan killings) and dig up orangutans graveyards, so it can be used as evidence of the crimes against orangutans.

Indonesia is home to the world’s remaining population of critically endangered orangutans found only on Sumatra and Kalimantan (Borneo) Islands.

It is estimated that around 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans are left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia. Of the total number, about 7,300 orangutans are to be found in Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra provinces, and many others in Central, West and East Kalimantan provinces.

The Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan are classified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Endangered and Critically Endangered respectively, with the population of Sumatran orangutans down by 91 percent since 1900.