Letter: Crocodile tears for orangutans

The urgency which Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan now attaches to rehabilitating orangutans is welcome, if very, very long overdue. See “Release orangutans before it’s too late, Minister says” (Sept. 7).

Whilst we wait to see if the minister’s expression of concern is turned into action before it is indeed too late, let’s not forget how these orangutans came to be in a rescue center. The one and only reason is the same reason the orangutan as a species is threatened with extinction in Indonesia; it is because of a total failure by the Forestry Ministry to protect both the orangutan and its rainforest habitat.

Having presided over the deaths of tens of thousands of orangutans without a single person ever being prosecuted, the reputation of the ministry is not so much tarnished as bloodied.

How could the government allow the orangutan, a majestic, harmless, and most iconic of species in all of Indonesia, to be reduced to being incarcerated in cages all over the country because so little forest remains in which they can live peacefully? During the reign of the current President, some 15-20,000 orangutans have probably been deliberately killed. What does this tell us about government policy?

Sean Whyte
England