JP/19/PRIMATE

JP/19/PRIMATE

Semarang, outlet for the sale of orangutans on Java island

Bambang M and Suherdjoko
Contributors
Semarang, Central Java

Though the government has put orangutans (pongo pygmaeus) on its
list of protected animals, many people still hunt and trade the
primate.

Go to the Karimata bird market in Semarang, the capital of
Central Java. The market is known as the main center for the
illegal trade in orangutans, which are shipped from Kalimantan to
Tanjung Emas harbor in Semarang.

After they arrive in Semarang, the orangutans are either sold
to locals or sent to other cities in Java and abroad. An
orangutan is usually obtainable for several hundred thousand
rupiah in Indonesia, but overseas they can sell for hundreds of
millions of rupiah.

A survey by The Gibbon Foundation found that Semarang ranks
third as a center for the smuggling of protected animals,
following Jakarta and Surabaya.

Semarang resident Harjanto Halim bought an orangutan in early
2003. He was walking through Karimata when a young orangutan
jumped toward him asked to be carried.

"The animal refused to be separated from me," said Halim, a
lecturer at a university in Semarang. Out of pity, he bought the
orangutan for Rp 2 million (US$233).

After taking care of the animal, which he named Fani, for
several months, Halim handed it over to the Conservation and
Natural Resources Center (BKSDA) in Central Java.

A staff member at the center, Kasiyanto, received the
orangutan, who was later taken to the Jogja Animal Rescue Center
(PPSJ).

When Halim and his wife took Fani to the BKSDA, they told the
officers there that protected animals were sold at the Karimata
market. However, there was no response to this tip.

A number of protected animals such as Javan eagles (Spizaetus
bartelsi) and gibbons (Symphalangus syndactylus) are still openly
sold at the market.

In an effort to stop the illegal trade of protected animals,
the BKSDA teamed up with the PPSJ to confiscate the animals.

One of their targets was Rosyid, one of the animal vendors at
Karimata. Ferry Anggriawan of PPSJ accused Rosyid not only of
selling orangutans locally but also of smuggling them to Bangkok.

A raid took place on Sept. 11, 2003. The BKSDA, PPSJ and some
40 policemen from the Central Java Police sped to Rosyid's house
on Jl. Imam Bonjol in Pethek, not far from the Tanjung Emas port.

The joint team hoped to confiscate 12 orangutans from Rosyid's
house. They had received information that these animals would be
smuggled to Bangkok.

When the team arrived, Rosyid was out. They also failed to
find any orangutans. Rosyid's wife denied that her husband sold
orangutans.

"Find the proof first. Don't just accuse my husband," she
said.

The local police heard that the orangutans had been taken
overland to Surabaya. The police attempted to intercept the
animals but found nothing.

"Perhaps the animals are still hidden somewhere in Semarang,"
said Sugihartono, the director of the PPSJ.

"When we arrived I got a glimpse of Rosyid driving away with a
young orangutan," Anggriawan claimed.

Although Rosyid is still at large, the team confiscated an
adult male orangutan and dozens of other protected animals from
his kiosk in the bird market. The team also seized an adult
female orangutan from Edi, another animal vendor.

Strangely, the Central Java branch of the BKSDA said it was
not aware that Semarang, particularly the Karimata bird market,
had become a center for the orangutan trade.

forgotten that a few months earlier Halim, when handing over
Fani, had tipped him off about it.

Is it true that the BKSDA was ignorant about the illegal
orangutan trade?

"I reported this to my superiors but they did nothing in
response," said a forest ranger who asked to remain anonymous.

Indeed, it is the job of the BKSDA to monitor the bird market.
The center, however, has not taken any measure because, as the
forest ranger put it, "There are a lot of thugs there."

The bird market is indeed tightly guarded. You cannot take
pictures of the animals there. There was a notice on a tree in
front of Rosyid's kiosk that read: "You cannot take any
photographs without the owner's permission. Be polite and we will
respect you."

Today, Rosyid, Edi and two other traders are being legally
processed. They could be facing a maximum punishment of five
years in jail and a maximum fine of Rp 100 million under Law No.
5/1990 on the conservation of natural resources and the
ecosystem.

For the time being, the open trade of protected animals at
Karimata has stopped. But this does not mean that the animals
aren't being bought and sold more discreetly.

At this junction, an intelligence operation by the BKSDA would
help ensure the illegal trade of protected animals was stopped
once and for all.

It is still doubtful, though, whether the BKSDA really means
to stop the illegal trade of orangutans in Semarang. If the
practice is halted, the orangutan might have a chance at
survival.

There are four species of large apes in the world. They are
chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. Of these four
species, orangutans are found only in Asia and they are the
species facing the greatest threat of extinction.

The orangutan population in Kalimantan faces a real threat.
Willie Smit, an orangutan expert, said that in the past two
decades about 80 percent of the habitat of orangutans in
Kalimantan had been damaged by forest fires, logging, mining and
the conversion of forest into estates.

In addition, orangutans continue to be hunted. They are either
captured and sold alive (particularly baby orangutans) or their
bodies are sold as souvenirs.

When Indonesia had an economic crisis in the late 1990s, the
hunting of orangutans intensified because many people came to
depend on the orangutan trade for money.

Since then some 2,000 orangutans have disappeared from their
original habitat. Unless orangutan hunting is stopped, orangutans
will become extinct by 2010, Smit said.