Roadside topeng monyet (masked monkey) shows have long been a popular entertainment despite for children and passersby the practice involving animal cruelty.

On Tuesday, some 20 animal-rights activists marked Primate Day by taking to the streets of Bandung, West Java, to protest against topeng monyet shows.

They held a theatrical performance to show how long-tailed macaques are being taken from their natural habitat and then force-trained to mimic various human activities, like walking on two legs, wearing a dress, riding a bicycle or using an umbrella.

“Macaques in these shows have been taken from their mothers when they are still babies, so it’s easier for the trainers to manipulate their natural behavior,” Sarah Syarajatun, one of the protesters, said.

Activists have long urged the government to ban the dancing monkey shows because of claims that their handlers often torture or starve the animals to force them to perform in the streets and entertain people.

Their audiences usually throw coins for the monkeys, which are often kept on short chains during the shows, to collect.

In Yogyakarta, topeng monyet shows also continue to be staged despite opposition by activists, with Animal Friends Jogja (AFJ) recording an increasing number of topeng monyet groups in the province. The number grew from 16 and 30 in 2014 and 2015, respectively, to 70 in 2017.

“Not only is it a form of animal abuse, the monkeys could also potentially transmit numerous kinds of disease to humans, like rabies, hepatitis and tuberculosis,” said AFJ program manager Angelina Pane.

According to their investigation, most of the macaques were captured in forests by poachers to be sold to topeng monyet operators for between Rp 1 million (US$70) and Rp 3 million.

On Tuesday, dozens of fauna lovers from the AFJ collaborated with ska band Shaggy Dog to perform an art show “Masked Monkey’s Tears” aimed at calling on the authorities to ban topeng monyet shows in the province.

Representative from the Yogyakarta administration, Sugeng Purwanto, told the activists that the province had issued in 2009 a decree he described as “aiming to help prevent the monkeys being used in topeng monyet shows.” The decree, however, merely stipulates that the presence of monkeys in society is a danger to human health.

Unlike Yogyakarta and Bandung, the nation’s capital of Jakarta has already banned the shows.

On then governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s instruction in 2014, the Jakarta administration bought back all monkeys from topeng monyet show owners across the city and donated them to Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s Natural Resource and Ecosystem Conservation director general, Wiratno, however, said the ministry had yet to prioritize the topeng monyet problem since the macaque population was not under threat in Java.

“[Rescuing macaques in topeng monyet shows] is not part of our conservation effort. But if we receive many reports urging us to do so, then we will start working on it,” he said, arguing that the macaque population was overcrowded in several forests in Java.

The reason why topeng monyet shows still continue until this day, Wiratno added, was mainly an economic issue.

Therefore, Wiratno said, people should stop watching such shows.

“If there is no demand, I believe gradually topeng monyet performers will do something else for a living,” he added. (vla)

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