Reply to Deni Purba

Deni Purba of Leuser Development Program (LDP) (The Jakarta Post, July 4, 2001) has questioned the purpose of my June 30 article on whether the conservation project was achieving its mandate. The point of my article was to prompt a public response to the questions: Given all the taxpayer money (EU and Indonesian) LDP is consuming, has the project proved successful? Who is evaluating this, and how?

I ask these questions publicly because one person asking privately for information or accountability from an organization often has little leverage with which to command disclosure and honest answers. Public action like an article can sometimes achieve this. When I've asked individual project members privately about these things (and in the past I've asked many questions of expatriate LDP staff) the responses were on the order of, "You can't expect us to do much about resisting corruption".

I'm sorry but I beg to disagree. The public should be able to expect a lot from an EU-sponsored project in the way of business ethics. I asked these questions now because the EU appears on the verge of pouring more money into a project whose results and management practices seem unexamined (albeit audited).

In the article I asked how much forest had been saved, and Deni Purba answered that question. He also corrected the impression I gave that all funds allocated have been spent; it's true that I concluded this from data in a referenced news report without verifying how much had actually been spent. I cited the closed field stations not as a criticism but as one justification why the project might not have met certain targets. I'll be happy to tell Deni where I got the information about unofficial amounts paid to retrieve the vehicles from customs and about the other statements in my article. I haven't dreamed these up; why would I or anyone want to "play into the hands of those who would rather see those forests destroyed"?

I'm surprised that the EU would copycat the tactic used by discredited prominent national figures when facing inquiries: Instead of relying on facts, try to intimidate persons into silence by threatening legal action. Some of my statements may be embarrassing to LDP, but they were not libelous. Deni's tone seems more defensive than open to an impartial pursuit of facts. Articles like mine aren't what endanger Leuser Ecosystem. Failing to question things, fortifying the illusion that LDP ipso facto spells protection: this is what endangers the rain forest.

DONNA K. WOODWARD

Medan, North Sumatra