Illegal logging in national park

As American visitors we just completed our seventh extended stay in Central Kalimantan to see the endangered orangutan in Tanjung Puting National Park, my husband and I are saddened by Indonesia's apparent total indifference to the welfare of its forests and unique wildlife.

Although over the years we have observed the occasional illegal logger sneaking his wares down river in the middle of the night, we were appalled the other day to count more than 1,000 ramin logs being brazenly taken from the park in the middle of one day. Apparently, this is done with the full cooperation of local law enforcement, who chased us down to demand we give them the film from our cameras. We did not comply.

What a shame that as Indonesians finally take a stand against government corruption, an unrenewable national treasure is virtually disappearing to greed and a system unwilling to enforce the law. Perhaps as humans we do not deserve forests or orangutans, but a barren planet unable to sustain life. We are well on our way to creating one.

BARBARA JACK SHAW

Semarang