On board with the rainbow warriors

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How ironic that a symbol of environmental sustainability, the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior had to berth at the port of Tanjung Priok in Jakarta Bay; a smelly, dirty port where garbage runs amok amid oil-slicked water.

But perhaps it was just as well because Rainbow Warrior's trip to Jakarta was part of the group's global campaign against environmental damage.

The vessel, a 555-ton motor-assisted schooner, was named after a North American Cree Indian legend that foretold the coming of the "rainbow warriors", a group of people from every nation, color and belief, coming together to fight against environmental destruction and save the Earth.

It was this prophecy that inspired early Greenpeace activists to take more active, yet always peaceful, action against environmental damage in the early 1970s.

"Our way is to bear witness against environmental damage. To arrive at a scene, register opposition, and publicize the issue," Natalia Truchi, Greenpeace's media liaison on board the Rainbow Warrior, said as she led The Jakarta Post on a tour around the ship.

In an early Greenpeace campaign against U.S. underground nuclear testing at Amchika -- a tiny island off the west coast of Alaska -- a ship was needed to get the campaigners close to the site. Since then Greenpeace's fleet has become indispensable.

To date, Greenpeace owns four ships -- Esperanza, Rainbow Warrior, Arctic Sunrise, and Argus -- and a Greenpeace balloon. The Arctic Sunrise came to Bali in May 2002 for the last pre- meeting before the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in late August.

The present Rainbow Warrior is in fact the second Greenpeace vessel using the same name. Its predecessor was bombed in 1985 in New Zealand by the French Secret Service to prevent a major campaign against nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll, part of French Polynesia in the South Pacific. One activist was killed by the explosion.

After the bombing, Greenpeace sunk the original Rainbow Warrior at Matauri Bay, in New Zealand's Cavalli Islands, where it became a living reef, attracting marine life and recreational divers.

Rather than deterring Greenpeace campaigners, the bombing put the international pressure group in the spotlight and the second Rainbow Warrior was launched on July 10, 1989 -- the anniversary of the bombing.

Since then the second Rainbow Warrior has campaigned against overfishing, toxic dumping, damage to fragile marine ecosystems, nuclear power and nuclear testing.

The ship also showcases environmentally friendly technology -- solar panels for hot water, a heating system that uses waste heat from engines, a water desalinization plant, and a sewage treatment system.

There's also art on board -- a 1.8-meter dolphin carved from oak, a donation from a local support group in Germany.

But most remarkable on the ship are the people manning it, the crew of 20 from 13 nations -- including Spain, Argentina, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, China and Papua New Guinea.

It is difficult to match the passion of the men and women in Greenpeace, who have dropped everything to save the Earth and become "rainbow warriors".

Sep Galeva, a 38-year-old former policeman from Papua New Guinea, joined Rainbow Warrior on the Asia-Pacific leg of its global campaign.

He flew in especially from Port Moresby to join Rainbow Warrior in Jakarta and will continue on board for the next few months.

"I expect to learn a lot (while on board), build up confidence and learn about tactics in campaigning," Galeva, who has campaigned against illegal logging and forest destruction in Papua New Guinea, said.

Long-time Greenpeace activist, Philip Lloyd, used to be a manager for a company that built ships in New Zealand. The nuclear testing in Mururoa in 1996 -- "right on my backyard," he commented -- compelled him to join the international peace flotilla that gathered on the site to protest.

Lloyd later quit building ships to crew them instead, and since then has been at the forefront of major environmental campaigns. His first ship was the Arctic Sunrise, campaigning against the extinction of the Southern Bluefin Tuna. Later, he campaigned against the use of dangerous chlorinated chemicals in New Zealand's Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill.

"I didn't want to continue making pretty boats after what I'd seen," Lloyd, who is the boatswain, or bosun, of Rainbow Warrior, said.

Being on the ship was like being on a "floating sponge, trying to absorb all information" about environmental damage.

But visiting some of the world's most beautiful places and seeing the destruction being done to them can at times be depressing, which is why each crew member gets a three-month holiday after three months of duty.

"One needs 'grounding' once in a while, otherwise it becomes overwhelming," Lloyd said.

It's difficult to take Lloyd's attention off nature, however, as even during his "grounding" periods he would rather go mountain-biking, river-rafting, and trap fishing, than do anything else.

"(It's about) just being in the outdoors that you're trying to protect".