Neck Deep in the Ciliwung

The Aped Crusader

There is a law in Indonesia stating no industrial plantations can convert primary or high conservation value forest into monoculture, generally millions of West African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) planted in an endless procession across the landscape, like green oil derricks.

The scale is hard to imagine. The area under oil palm plantations in Indonesia grew 35 fold between 1967 and 2005, and now covers about 21,000 square miles, mostly in Riau, South Sumatra, North Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Jambi and Central Kalimantan provinces. By 2020, another 27,000 to 31,000 square miles will be planted tapping into the gushing price for oil, producing Crude Palm Oil, which can be turned into food, cosmetics or biofuel. 

Standing in the way of this is Hardi Baktiantoro. Given that he's arrayed himself against one of Indonesia's most powerful industries, he’ll be a lonely figure against the vast clout of oil palm firms. Hardi started the Centre for Orangutan Protection. He speaks quietly without dramatics, pausing before issuing each sentence. When his words are delivered, they are biting, humorous, and absolute. There's precious time for doubt when you're trying to saving a species like orangutans.

"It's a nightmare," he says of the dead orangutans he saw working in the plantations of Borneo. "I do not have enough compassion to see this cruelty. I have to stop the root of the problem."

Hardi worked for one year with an orangutan rehabilitation sanctuary, rescuing 265 animals in 2006 alone, which he says represents as many as 20,000 killed in the wild (other studies have put the ratio of rescued to dead at 1:5, meaning 1,500 orangutans in this case). Plantations generally cut and bulldoze the trees, grading the land and scraping it clear of any vegetation besides the newly planted oil palm. Orangutans often do not escape. One plantation worker Hardi met said he had killed 40 orangutans himself, and he laments he even spent one year rehabilitating them, instead of saving them. 

"It's like you're mopping a wet floor, but the leak from the roof is still coming," he says. "So I quit."

With funding from British NGOs and individuals around the world, he began advocating a strategy of getting the story out by any means -- which often includes deceiving plantations about why they have entered their land using disguises such as land surveyor or journalists. They document the destruction and put public and legal pressure on the plantation companies, some among the largest such firms in the world.

"We compile evidence of the crime and expose it to the public," says the director of the Centre for Orangutan Protection, whose newest car, a menacing black Mitsubishi land cruiser called The Aped Crusader, will be making its debut in Bali this month. "Sometimes we cannot prove it is a crime, but we can still prove it’s cruel. And we tell people, and we stop the companies."

And the winner is....

The pollster comes to Jakarta. Peter Hart, the number cruncher for the Wall Street Journal and the TV networks, gave a talk at the request of the USINDO society to explain the mood of US voters and answer the all important question for Indonesian's: Will Obama win?

Obama spent part of his childhood in Jakarta where he was educated (not at an Islamic school), and he might as well be their hometown candidate. [There he is in the middle]. People are fascinated by the process too: the world's most advanced democracy (supposedly) battles it out for all to see. The stakes are a new world order for four years. Great drama. It's clear who would win if the election happened here; even the taxi drivers give me a thumbs up, "Obama." Although based on our current reputation I'm sure a Mexican Chihuahua could win   office, as long as he didn't support the current policies.

Hart starts his talk, a Beltway joke is too painful to repeat here . The theme, wait for it, is for change.

What is change? Change means two things. For older, conservative folks (read, often, Republicans), change is about "what's below us," the floorboards supporting us in the past immigration, smaller government, and American values. This is 37% of Americans. For liberals or Democrats (which is the majority of American's these days, depending on how you measure it -- 59%, says Hart), it's about where we're going tomorrow: health care, competing in a globalized economy and reestablishing our reputation in the world. The dependable "don't knows" comprise just 4%.

The big issues are pretty simple. We're in a war (Iraq). We're in a recession (economy, toilet, swirl). This makes it one of the most fertile fields for Democratic victory since 1932 and perhaps not a surprise that Obama leads McCain 47-40 points. Mostly, it seems, this is about wanting to dig ourself out of the latrine.

McCain may find it difficult to find a shovel. "In an era of change," says Hart, "people perceive him as no change at all." Voters barely identified him with "a change in direction" (19%) and "inspirational" (22%). Not exactly revolutionary material.  Still, he polls higher than half on knowledge (64%) and as a commander in chief (52%); Obama is still a third or less on both. This may be Obama's final weakness. His numbers are stratospheric as an easy-going (69%) and strong leader (47%); and more than McCain, you would put him in your family circle.  But it's not clear if people trust him, or that is safe (right, Iowa). If that's in question, Hart says, people will default to McCain.

The pollsters are sometimes wrong, but their data usually isn't. The seismic shifts show up early as small tremors. By the time the election gets closer, data will hone in on a winner. Without more New Yorker covers, or  100-years war comments, we should know pretty well before the election -- although TV will dissect every percentage point  -- who's got the odds.

Hart says the numbers to watch are simple:
1) Party identification. Democrats have an 11 point advantage. Even they may have a hard time lousing that up, but I have faith in their ability to do it.
2) How many people believe McCain will follow Bush: 76% If that number doesn't nose dive, McCain can forget it.
3) Does the candidate identify with your background and values? This stands at 50% for Obama. If it dips below 30%, he's out of the game. 

There's the scorecard. Some  intriguing ideas came up there -- idealism breaking through the partisan fog (Hart obviously has a sweet spot for Obama). Hart was surprised no third-party had emerged to compete for the Presidency. What it will take? A Republican president and Democratic Congress with the lowest approval ratings in history, and a third-party doesn't even get a spot at the debate, let alone bury the other parties. Sad.

Finally, he described what he thought was at the bottom of this election, and perhaps in every one ,although the last two would suggest not. People want transparency, authenticity and unity. Imagine a presidential team  that went up and said we will work for the American people, my vice-president has pledged not to run for office in the next election and we're stepping away from partisan warfare. We can imagine.

PS: Environment matched terrorism (both around 13-15%) as an important issue. Well, what do you know.

Here there be Dragons

Walking home, I saw two rifles were leaned up against the wall. Two men were squatting on the cement. Clove cigarettes jangled from their months, as they buzzed excitedly about their catch. I watched them slash a  small pen razor, the kind that would  fit a hobby knife, at a shape spread on the floor "It's a Komodo," they said proudly hoisting the lizard from its thick, bulging tail. I was ushered into the circle to watch the animal, slowly being rendered into pieces.

The  meat was left on the bones, as the skin was pulled away. The animal had already been decapitated quickly looking more like a meal or a belt every minute. They had shot it in the riverbed winding through our neighborhood. It was destined for obat, or the brew of traditional medicines that Indonesians still turn to for most ailments, as well as the sate stick, roasted meat  smothered in peanut sauce found at most roadsides. 

Although not really a Komodo dragon,  the lizard was another kind of  monitor lizard.  Wikipedia writer say the lizards "are very intelligent, and some species can even count" (this is footnoted), making excellent pets if you like "reptilian cats" with brains and an independent streak. They are also stronger pound for pound than an alligator, and apparently content to dine on crickets, "superworms," eggs and the occasional rodent.

So the jungle is still in Jakarta. Few places have paved, cleared and driven greenery so thoroughly from a city, but more wildlife passes through my neighborhood most nights than whole weeks on the East Coast. If every human left tomorrow, the city would not be empty.

Neck Deep in the Ciliwung

My first mentor J.R. Moehringer once described a reporter, the paper's Delhi bureau chief, he figured must have been the most long-suffering journalist at the L.A. Times. "He's neck deep in the Ganges," said J.R., reeling off  trials he had endured most involving cholera and cows. I thought this sounded ideal and he figured I would end up like him. We were right.