Leuser Project<\/p>\n
Referring to your article in The Jakarta Post of Nov. 26
\nregarding the dismissal of 200 staff members of the Leuser
\nManagement Unit, I hereby formally disown that the European
\nCommission or the Delegation has any plan to close the Leuser
\nDevelopment Program before its closing date. I also wish to say
\nthat the European Commission is not dissatisfied with the
\nperformance of the project, which it closely monitors.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year five ambassadors and four other
\nrepresentatives of embassies of European Union Member States
\nvisited the project. They had frank and open discussions with the
\nproject staff, representatives of central and local government,
\nNGOs and activists. Despite the difficulties and shortcomings
\nthat any conservation project of this size would have
\nencountered, the general conclusion of this visit was that the
\nproject was doing an impressing job.<\/p>\n
We are fully aware that the situation in the Indonesian
\nforestry sector is difficult. There is no reason to deny that
\nillegal logging takes place inside the Leuser Development Program
\narea, as this takes place in many if not all conservation areas
\nin Indonesia. However to stop illegal logging, action is needed
\nfrom not only the law enforcing agencies, but also from the
\nforest industry, many of which remain dependable on illegally cut
\nwood to stay in business.<\/p>\n
I also wish to express my surprise that a newspaper as
\nreputable as The Jakarta Post can print a story without double
\nchecking its information. It seems to me that checking the
\ninformation before printing is one of the basic principles of
\ngood journalism. I would have expected that Mr. Apriadi Gunawan
\nas a journalist working for your paper to adhere to such a basic
\ncode of conduct. To prevent such unnecessary mistakes happening
\nagain in the future, I suggest that you take the effort of
\ncontacting the Delegation of the European Commission here in
\nJakarta before printing any article on the Commission's
\ndevelopment co-operation program in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
SABATO DELLA MONICA<\/p>\n
Ambassador<\/p>\n
European Commission to Indonesia,<\/p>\n
Singapore and Brunei Darussalam<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/leuser-project-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }