Walhi award torn up in protest at Lore Lindu illegal logging
Erik W., The Jakarta Post, Palu
The director of the Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Banjar Yulianto, tore up on Friday a Walhi (Indonesian Forum for the Environment) Award he received two years ago in protest at Walhi's support for the resettlement of a group of people whom he accused of damaging the ecology of the national park.
"I received this award and other ones from the government in 2000, but now I feel deceived and embarrassed by them because of the rampant illegal logging taking place in the national park," he said while tearing up all the awards in his residence in Palu.
He added that other awards he had received for allowing local people to resettle in the national park without damaging the environment were hanging in his house in Bogor, West Java, but these would be also torn up because, according to him, they were no longer relevant.
He said he appreciated the Walhi award at the time because of the non-governmental organization's strong commitment to supporting the resettlement of a number of communal groups inside the national park.
But all that had now changed.
"I decide to dump the awards as neither the government nor Walhi did anything to prevent the Dongidongi communal group from looting the forest," he said.
He stated that 3,800 hectares of the total 228,000 hectares of forest in the park had been badly damaged and another 1,000 hectares had been occupied for resettlement purposes.
"On the other hand, Walhi has supported the occupation of the forest and done nothing to prevent the people from felling trees in the park in its effort to win financial support from its donor agencies," he said.
Banjar and the local Walhi branch have been involved in a increasingly acrimonious dispute following the killing of two people in clashes between the Dongidongi people and forest rangers.
The dispute was triggered by the shooting to death of a Dongidongi man, who was caught red-handed felling mature trees in the park on Oct. 8, 2002. The situation threatened to further spiral out of control after hundreds of Dongidongi people killed a forest ranger in retaliation for the shooting.
Banjar said the ranger was killed by an angry mob led by Papa Gola, a supplier of illegal logs to Palu.
Meanwhile, Harley, chairman of the local Walhi branch, regretted Banjar's action, saying Walhi had given the award to the wrong person.
"The award should have been given to the Toro, Katu and Doda people who have preserved the environment inside the national park and not to Banjar," he asserted.
He said the rampant illegal logging had a lot to do with the local administration's failure to provide land for the Dongidongi people outside the national park.
Ridha Saleh, deputy director of Walhi, said Walhi would start a campaign among the Dongidongi people to encourage them to stop the illegal logging as the national park was protected by the law.
"We regret the rampant illegal logging and Banjar's action in tearing up the award. Of the utmost importance is that both sides remain committed to preserving the environment in the national park," he said.