More controversy befalls gorillas

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It seems like a gorilla can't get a break in this town. After having their arrival delayed by several months, four male gorillas on loan from the Howlett and Lympne Park in Kent, England, continue to be a source of controversy more than a month after their arrival.

Visitors who want to get a look at Kihi, Kimbou, Kijou and Komou -- as the lowland African gorillas are known -- will have to pay Rp 5,000, in addition to Ragunan Zoo's entrance fee of Rp 3,000 for adults and Rp 2,000 for children.

This amount is higher than that stipulated in a bylaw the City Council approved on Oct. 24 of last year.

The bylaw, which was approved by a vote of the council's 11 factions, stipulates that the entrance fee to see the gorillas is Rp 2,000 for children and Rp 3,000 for adults.

The authorities have not explained why visitors will be charged Rp 5,000 instead of the amounts laid down in the bylaw.

Controversy was already swirling around the gorillas, which have been loaned to Ragunan Zoo for one year initially, before they even arrived in Jakarta.

The four were scheduled to arrive here in September last year, but the date was pushed back because of security concerns in the capital.

In October, the city administration caused a minor uproar by requesting Rp 3.2 billion from the city budget to pay for the gorillas' food.

However, the director of the Gibbon Foundation, which is concerned with the conservation of primates in Kalimantan, Willie Smits, said the foundation would bear the cost of the gorillas' food.

Following this controversy, there was some question as to if the four gorillas would ever get the chance to visit Jakarta, and their luxurious enclosure was left vacant for months.

But on Monday, the gorillas were in their Rp 10-billion enclosure, official named the Schmutzer Primate Center, after the late Mrs. Puck Schmutzer whose donation made all of this possible.

And with Governor Sutiysoso scheduled on Tuesday to officially open the primate center, everything was in spic-and-span order, with all of the controversies seemingly forgotten.