Indonesia: Two Arrested in Orangutan Slaughter Case

Jakarta Globe 21 Nov 11;

Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Two people in Muara Kaman subdistrict in Kutai Kartanegara have been arrested in connection with a mass slaughter of orangutans, a village chief said on Sunday.

Kadir said he could not confirm the identity of the suspects or their alleged role in the case.

“National Police and Forestry Ministry officials arrived on Wednesday to probe the allegations,” he said.

Allegations of the mass killing of the protected animals first surfaced in September, though police at the time said they needed more evidence before a formal investigation could be launched.

Yaya Rayadin, a researcher from Mulawarman University in Samarinda, the provincial capital, said people in the area had been killing orangutans since 2008.

“The forests are the natural habitat of orangutans, including forests that have been converted into palm oil plantations,” the researcher said. “However, [the orangutans] adapt to changes very well and they survive by observing and learning from the environment around them.

“The only food available is palm, so they eat it.”

One orangutan is capable of eating fruit from up to 30 to 40 palm trees a day, he said. “Therefore, plantation firms consider them pests that must be controlled to prevent losses.”

Kadir said he was ashamed that his village was now associated with the massacre.

“The killings took place on the plantation, which is quite a distance from our village,” he said.

He admitted, however, that many of the villagers worked on the plantation and may have been involved in the slaughter.

A recent study estimates 750 orangutans are killed by people in Indonesian Borneo each year.

Antara

Manager Probed Over Orangutan Deaths
Farouk Arnaz Jakarta Globe 23 Nov 11;

Police are investigating the manager of a palm oil plantation for reportedly ordering two workers to slaughter orangutans in an attempt at “pest control,” an official said on Tuesday.

The manager of the Khaleda Agroprima Malindo plantation in Kutai Kartanegara district, East Kalimantan, is being treated as a witness, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said.

“Our officers in the field are developing this case to determine whether we will go on to name him a suspect,” he said.

“All those involved in this incident and found to have committed a crime will be named a suspect.”

The announcement comes a day after police said they had arrested two workers from the plantation who admitted to trapping and shooting 20 orangutans and monkeys since 2008.

Saud said both the current plantation manager, identified only as P., and his predecessor, A., had ordered the animals killed because they had taken to eating palm fruit on the plantation. Neither has been taken into custody.

The company paid Rp 200,000 ($22) per monkey and Rp 1 million per orangutan, Saud said.

The workers, who are being detained at Kutai police station, could face fines of up to Rp 100 million for killing protected species under the 1990 Law on Natural Resource Conservation.

The evidence — 20 photographs of dead animals and some remains — is under examination as police are working to identify the people behind the policy of treating the endangered animals as pests to be killed.

Saud said that rumors of the involvement of a retired police general in the slaughter were absolutely untrue.

“There is no policy by police or retired police to kill orangutans,” he said.

Orangutans have long been extinct in Java and mainland Southeast Asia. Sumatra and Borneo are now their last refuge.

Police grill 25 witnesses in orangutan killing case
Antara 24 Nov 11;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) -The National Police have grilled 25 witnesses in the orangutan (pongo pygmaeus morio) and monkey killing case at Puan Cepak, Muara Kapan Sub District, Kutai Kartanegara District, East Kalimantan Province.

"So far, we have questioned around 25 witnesses. They consisted of PT KAM management officials, local residents and experts," Senior Commissioner Antonius Wisnu Sutirta, a spokesman of the East Kalimantan Police, said on the phone Thursday.

The Kutai Kartanegara police would continue to investigate the case to find more evidence and possible suspects, he said.

"The investigation is still going on, and there is a possibility that the number of suspects will increase. We will find out who had instructed (the orangutan murders) and who had paid them to commit the crime," Wisnu said.

PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo (KAM) is a Malaysian oil palm company which considers orangutans and monkeys pests.

"According to the arrested suspects, they killed two orangutans and 20 monkeys , and the evidence was the animals` skeletons, an air rifle, spears and ropes," Wisnu said.

Police have named two suspects, namely M alias G and M, in the Kalimantan orangutan and monkey killing case .

The two suspects are pest eradication workers of PT KAM.

They said they had killed the animals on instructions from P and A , PT KAM managers, two years ago. They were paid Rp200,000 per one monkey and Rp1 million per orangutan.

They are now liable to a five-year jail sentence and payment of a Rp100 million-fine in accordance with Law No 5/1990 on Natural Resource Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation.

East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak recently denied the reports about orangutan killings in the province.

"I have reiterated that, the provincial government, the Kutai Kartanegara district administration and the local police did not find any evidence of orangutan killings," Awang Faroek told the media in the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda, on November 18, 2011.
(Uu.F001/HAJM)

Police name two new suspects in orangutan killing case
Antara 25 Nov 11;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The National Police on Thursday named two more suspects in the case of orangutan (pongo pygmaeus morio) killings at Puan Cepak village, Muara Kaman sub district, Kutai Kartanegara (Kukar) District, East Kalimantan Province.

"Based on the investigation by the Kukar and East Kalimantan Police offices today, we name and detain two new suspects, namely W bin W, 29 years old and an employee, and PCH, 46 years old and a senior manager," Inspector General Saud Usman Nasution, a spokesman of the Indonesian National Police, said here on Thursday.

W was suspected as the person who had recruited the main suspect, caught and shot orangutans. He had also provided the facilities.

PCH, the senior manager, was the person who had suggested and instructed the establishment of a team to hunt pests (including orangutans and monkeys) in the plantation area of PT. Khaleda Agroprima Malindo (KAM), an oil palm plantation company belonged to Malaysia.

"For some others, we are still waiting for further investigation. For sure, whoever was involved in this case will be thoroughly processed, without discrimination, including the company`s employees or others," Saud said.

The National Police have grilled 25 witnesses in the orangutan and monkey killing case.

Police had earlier named two suspects, namely M alias G and M, in the Kalimantan orangutan and monkey killing case.

The two suspects are pest eradication workers of PT KAM.

They said they had killed the animals on instructions from PCH and A, PT KAM managers, two years ago. They were paid Rp200,000 per one monkey and Rp1 million per orangutan.

They are now liable to a five-year jail sentence and payment of a Rp100 million-fine in accordance with Law No 5/1990 on Natural Resource Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation. (*)

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono