Fidelis E. Satriastanti & Antara Jakarta Globe 6 Dec 11;
East Kalimantan police are seeking help from Interpol to arrest the manager of a palm oil plantation suspected of ordering workers to slaughter orangutans after he reportedly fled to his native Malaysia.
Aru Mugem Samugem, the general manager of the Khaleda Agroprima Malindo plantation in Kutai Kartanegara district, along with senior estate manager Puah Chuan alledgedly ordered the plantation’s supervisor Widi and two workers to kill the animals because they had taken to eating palm fruit on the plantation.
“[Aru] is a Malaysian and right now we have reasons to believe he escaped to his home country. That is why we are seeking help from Interpol,” said Kutai Kertanegara Police spokesman Adj. Comr. I Nyoman Subrata, adding that Aru did not respond to two court summonses.
Police arrested two workers last month. They later admitted to trapping and shooting 20 orangutans and monkeys since 2008.
The company paid Rp 200,000 ($22) per monkey and Rp 1 million per orangutan, police allege.
The workers’ admission led to the arrest of Puah and Widi. All four of the suspects could face fines of up to Rp 100 million for killing protected species under the 1990 Law on Natural Resource Conservation.
Nyoman said police had uncovered the remains of orangutans, monkeys and bekantans, another endangered primate, that were buried at several locations.
Orangutans have long been extinct in Java and mainland Southeast Asia. Sumatra and Borneo are now their last refuge.
Separately, in East Kotawaringin district in Central Kalimantan, authorities there saved four baby orangutans captured by locals during the last two months.
“All of the baby orangutans are now in our care. They are orphans, and we suspect their mothers had been killed because orangutans never leave their young like that,” East Kotawaringin Natural Resource Conservation Agency chief Ian Septiawan said.
The first baby orangutan, Ian said, was taken from a doctor working for palm oil plantation Windo Nabatindo. The second was held captive by a palm oil plantation employee, the third was found at Sawit Mas palm oil plantation while the fourth was found with locals in Ketapang subdistrict.
