As someone who has chosen to live and work here for the past few years, it would be impossible to ignore the ecological problems, particularly deforestation, which threaten not only many animal species, but human tribes as well.

You appeal to the Indonesian government?

Educate yourself first.

Ninety percent of all palm oil is exported to the West! It is the demands of the Western world that have caused this problem, not the Indonesian government!

This country has been in a stranglehold by the IMF and the World Bank for years. Hence, your designer clothes and shoes are built by the sweatshop labor that is provided here and your palm oil- made products continue to fuel the demand.

In a country with so many people, and so few jobs, there are simply no alternatives for the thousands of workers who work in these places for a pittance.

Your demands. Not theirs.

So while the forests are being cut down to make way for western demands, ask yourself: what can I do from MY end to change this? If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem!

Jeannie McLeod Medan

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