People in the area, according to Sipirok people empowerment activist Koesnadi Wirasaputera, are committed to protecting nature, including the rare Tapanuli orangutans.

The villages of Haonatas, Tanjung Rompa, Bonan Dolok and Siranap in Batang Toru, he added, believed that disturbing orangutans would lead to danger in their villages.

“They consider orangutans to be sacred animals,” Koesnadi told The Jakarta Post recently.

According to local myth, orangutans were members of their “family” that had to be protected, with whom they must share the forest.

The belief also accounted for why locals had not considered orangutans to be their enemies even though they often looted durian from their fields. 

“That is how they interact with orangutans,” Koesnadi said, adding such a scene could still be found in Sitandiang, Aek Batang Paya, Marancar Godang.

PT. North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE), the operator of the Batang Toru hydropower plant (PLTA), said the company would help preserve and support the local wisdom.

Company spokesperson Firman Taufick said the company would support the locals in preserving the tradition by providing training to produce local wisdom-based conservation members in the region. The training was conducted from Tuesday to Wednesday in Sitandiang, Sipirok district, held in cooperation with local administrations and the community.

“This is our concrete way of helping to preserve orangutans in the Batang Toru ecosystem,” Firman said.

Two years ago, a group of Indonesian and foreign researchers declared Tapanuli orangutans as the world’s newest species of big apes. The population is estimated at 800.

The species can only be found in the Batang Toru ecosystem, which is a virgin forest covering an area of 133,841 hectares in three regencies of South Tapanuli, North Tapanuli, and Central Tapanuli.

Their population is feared to be threatened because of the development of the Batang Toru PLTA.

PT. NSHE’s senior adviser on environment and sustainability, Agus Djoko Ismanto, denied the accusation, saying that the company had conducted mitigation efforts on the potential impact of the project on the environment.

Claiming to be implementing the environmental, social and health impact assessment method in the project, Agus said a biodiversity action plan had been implemented before the land was opened for the project, with monitoring by the local office of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), Batang Toru PLTA and NGOs, he said.

“Together, we monitored the apes’ presence through inspection prior to the logging activities,” said Agus, adding that the orangutans had to be protected so that none would be injured during the development.

Popular

Indonesian workers in Japan face growing stigma after viral incidents

Political motivations behind rising cyberattacks in mid-2025, report says

High rice prices, education costs push up inflation to 2.37 percent in July