Monkey business?<\/p>\n
The Jakarta administration's plan to spend some Rp 3.2 billion
\n(about US$3.2 million) on the care of four African gorillas --
\ndonations from a sister zoo in Britain to the Ragunan Zoo in
\nSouth Jakarta -- is drawing fire from irate members of the
\nJakarta City Council (DPRD). And quite understandably so,
\nconsidering the circumstances.<\/p>\n
\"It's unfair,\" fumed Azis Boeang, a legislator of the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) faction in the
\ncouncil. \"Why should the administration spend Rp 3.2 billion a
\nyear on subsidies to look after four gorillas while a proposed
\ninsurance plan for council members, which would cost no more than
\nRp 4.3 billion, is killed,\" he reportedly complained to the
\nJakarta newspaper Kompas.<\/p>\n
To present Jakartans with a clearer picture of what it would
\ncost them to maintain the four gorillas, another disgruntled DPRD
\nmember, Ridho Kamaludin, of the United Development Party (PPP)
\nfaction, came up with a more detailed calculation.<\/p>\n
\"A gorilla could live up to an age of 55 or 60 years,\" Ridho
\nexplained. \"The primates are at present only five years old. That
\nmeans the city might have to continue to pay for their care for
\n50 years or more. Imagine the costs involved.\"<\/p>\n
Assuming that Rp 3.2 billion a year is indeed spent on the
\ncare of the gorillas, according to Ridho's calculations, the
\ntotal amount expended would be roughly Rp 266.66 million a month,
\nor Rp 8.8 million a day, which makes an average of Rp 2.2 million
\nper primate per day.<\/p>\n
\"It would be all right to subsidize the gorillas as long as
\nthey produce revenue for the city administration. But in this
\ncase the income would only go to the Ragunan Zoo,\" he said. Not
\nsurprisingly, the complaints aired in the city's legislative
\ncouncil are readily echoed at the community level.<\/p>\n
While people may argue about the need -- or, indeed, the
\npropriety -- for the Jakarta city administration to spend a
\nproposed Rp 4.3 billion a year in taxpayers' money to insure
\nlegislators in the city council, there can be no denying the fact
\nthat millions of people in the Indonesian capital are living in
\ndire need and poverty.<\/p>\n
For example, Jakarta's budget for this year sets aside a mere
\nRp 3.6 billion to support the so-called informal sector of the
\neconomy, which forms a major potential source of revenue for the
\ncity administration and comprises mostly small traders and other
\nsmall-time private entrepreneurs by whose merit the city's
\neconomy has so far managed to persist, crisis upon crisis
\nnotwithstanding.<\/p>\n
With hundreds of thousands of residents compelled by
\ncircumstances to live from hand to mouth, staying in cardboard
\nshacks or sleep under bridges or the eaves of roadside shops
\nduring the night, people naturally question the administration's
\ndecision to spend Rp 8.8 million a day on the care of four
\ngorillas.<\/p>\n
One must appreciate the officials' apparent attention to the
\nfate of the primates, but Rp 2.2 million a day per animal is for
\nthe overwhelming majority of Jakartans a staggering sum indeed.
\nIn a recent article in Kompas, Dr. Linus Simanjuntak, a prominent
\nveterinarian and former director of the Ragunan Zoo, calculated
\nthat Rp 100,000 a day per gorilla would be more than enough.<\/p>\n
The question on the lips of many Jakartans at present is,
\nwhere will the rest of the money go? Suspicions of monkey
\nbusiness abound.<\/p>\n
Considering the circumstances, Jakartans might have reason,
\nafter all, to be thankful for the recent \"sweeps\" by radicals of
\nforeign residents in the city. At least that action has
\nreportedly frightened the present owners of the gorillas in
\nBritain into deferring sending the animals to Jakarta.<\/p>\n
It is not very likely that the gorillas will meet an overly
\nenthusiastic welcome in this city unless conditions improve
\nsometime soon.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/monkey-business-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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