A friend of mine once said, “Its really dissappointing when you wake up one day, and realize the world is run by greedy bastards.” I’ve already woken up, and here in Indonesia, its free for all for greedy bastards. Fortunately, the dark side will not prevail, because there are a few people out there, who are willing to stand up for justice.
Indonesia has the world’s biggest deforestation problem, worse than Brasil! Much of this is illegal logging. Most of Kaliamantan’s lowland forest is gone and talking to people in the furniture business over here, they are always searching for jati (teakwood), which has all but dissappeared from Bali. One of the biggest logging companies in Indonesia is Kayu Lapis Indonesia’s (KLI), and recently the knights of environmentalism, Greenpeace, have been giving them hell. Get this, representatives from Greenpeace had the cojones, to show up at the company headquarters in Jakarta, and present them with a huge wreath with the message, “Congratulations Kayu Lapis Indonesia, Forest Killer in Papua.” They then poured leaves and branches around the place, in an act of defiance.
Resource extraction / destruction, is an easy way for some people to get rich. It is the route the government sees also, with the natural resurces Indonesia possesses. A friend of mine recently back from eastern Indonesia, told me Balinese fishing boats sail all the way out there, for turtles.
Without strong locally enforced laws, everything is up for grabs.
