JP/18/SELO1

checked -- JSR Fifteen green years at Seloliman

In May, conservationists worldwide celebrate the 15th anniversary of Indonesia's first non-commercial, non-governmental, environment center. Jakarta Post contributor based in Surabaya Duncan Graham reports:

When Kermit the TV cartoon frog sang It's not easy being green environmentalists seized on the phrase with gusto.

They knew all about battling bureaucracies and developers when it came to the contest between profit and preservation. But few had to cope with an even greater obstacle: public apathy and ridicule.

In Indonesia, indifference to conservation ranges from large companies felling rainforests to individuals dropping litter in the street because they cannot be bothered to find a rubbish bin.

So when East Java student veterinary surgeon Suryo Prawiroatmodjo started arguing that nature needed protection he met with some blank looks and crass comments.

Even his colleagues at Surabaya's Airlangga University couldn't understand the young agitator's obsession, born through childhood visits to East Java's forests. "Are you going to organize picnics?" they jeered.

At the time, international non-governmental organization (NGO) Greenpeace was vigorously challenging governments to stop whaling and dumping nuclear waste. In the eyes of the conservatives then exercising absolute power in Jakarta a young Indonesian intellectual talking conservation was clearly in the same suspect category.

How it all began

But Dr Suryo silver-tongued his way past intelligence interrogations and military scrutiny, and then into ministerial offices and governor's mansions. Again and again he explained that the environment mattered and conservation should be a matter of national concern.

"They came back with the standard lines that every Indonesian activist knows well," he said. "Like: 'We haven't got the time or money to worry about such things. We're all too busy trying to survive from day-to-day'.

"I replied that if they didn't start conserving the nation's natural resources these would soon vanish, and with them any chance of future income. "Then we'd all be really hungry. Slowly the message got through."

Suryo won over some powerful friends who gave his campaign credibility. In 1982 he quit castrating cats and started working full-time for the Jakarta-based foundation Yayasan Indonesia Hijau (YIH), or Green Indonesia. From there he won a research scholarship to the U.S. to study conservation. Along the way he encountered overseas donors impressed with YIH's dedication.

The potential benefactors also had thick wads of skepticism among their dollars. One philanthropic group included a former Dutch ambassador to Indonesia on its governing council. He told his board that Indonesians were unworthy of support: "If we give them funds, they'll be whittled away," he said.

"That always happens. Conservationists will become corruptors and parasites."

Determination, despite skepticism

Replied Suryo: "There's nothing certain in life; you can't guarantee that Indonesia is 100 per cent corrupt. Not all follow that philosophy; some of us are genuinely concerned about the future and we need your help to achieve our dream. The issue is universal." He won, and the money started coming in.

With cash from the Worldwide Fund for Nature almost 4 hectares of poor-quality land was bought near the village of Seloliman.

This is an hour's drive from Surabaya on the slopes of the sacred volcano, Gunung Penanggungan, the center of the ancient Majapahit kingdom.

Cottages and a meeting hall were built. The area was landscaped and the Pusat Pendidikan Lingkungan Hidup (PPLH, or the Environmental Education Center) was formed.

Suryo says more than $US 1 million has flowed into the center from Holland, the U.S., the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. Although legally he remains the founding director he is no longer involved in the day-to-day activities (for reasons revealed in the sidebar story).

Apart from collecting influential support in Indonesia and abroad (including German architect and academic Dr Ulli Fuhrke who became a partner in the enterprise) Suryo has some rare gifts. He has benign tenacity and can tolerate fools and frauds in authority without openly displaying contempt and losing their backing.

On May 15, 1990, Indonesia's first non-commercial, non- governmental environmental center was opened. Since then, thousands of local and overseas people have been through its organic gardens, marveled at the improved fertility and lived in its cheerful little cottages. The slogan is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

PPLH has also spread to West Irian, South Sulawesi, West Java and Bali.

Although foreign funds are still used to support specific projects, the aim is to be self-supporting. PPLH Seloliman (Javanese for "sleeping elephant", the shape of a nearby rock) takes paying guests, mostly from Australia.

The center is seldom promoted by travel agents or government tourist officers, who cannot understand why Westerners would wish to stay in the countryside. Most visitors find their way there through the Internet or word-of-mouth recommendation from backpackers who shy from packaged hedonism in the quest for a different experience.

On the Net: www.pplh.org

;; ANPAv..r.. Photo-Environment Photo caption JP/18/CAPS

Photo caption A JP/Duncan Graham

Suryo Prawiroatmodjo, the founder and driving force behind Pusat Pendidikan Lingkungan Hidup (Environmental Education Center) in Seloliman, an hour's drive from Surabaya, shows visitors around the center.

Photo caption B JP/Duncan Graham

SURYO PRAWIROATMODJO