#SaveOrangutan: Is It Good or Bad?

Wow, this is amazing. Never in my lifetime did I even hope that people, especially Indonesians, would actually care. Let alone starting a movement like this.

No, really. I’ve never had that much faith on this country or its people. Well, I’m not that crazy about people in general. They annoy me. And if I busy myself in various conservation efforts, from the reefs of Raja Ampat to the mangroves of Aceh; from the once-mythical flesh-eating dragons of Komodo to the Bornean orangutans; it’s because I love Mother Earth. Not because I love Indonesia. Just wanna make that perfectly clear to begin with.

So this movement – the #SaveOrangutan movement – caught me off guard. At first I thought this would be a temporary thing… You know, something that’s gone in a few days, replaced by a new issue. But this movement has gotten bigger, stronger and (sometimes annoyingly) louder every day! In fact, it has become a trend. Meaning that if you support the orangutans, you’re cool. You’re in. You’re it.

Indonesians from all walks of life talk about it – on campus, in the mall, in the streets and even in public transportations. And just the other week, my MOM and DAD talked about it – in angry tones, wishing all oil palm plantations’ owners to be given death sentences! Now, THAT’S something. You see, my mom and dad are my worst critiques. They always think that I’m wasting my Computer Science degree on a bunch of useless animals. Not to mention wasting their hard-earned money that they spent on my overseas education. And every time I bring home a strayed cat or a wounded dog, they get angry. So to see them speaking out FOR the orangutans is… definitely a jaw-dropping moment for me, to say the least.

Anyway, so is this – movement – good or bad?

Well, I’ve heard a lot of criticisms about it from those who think that this movement is motorized by loud-mouth no-brainers. Yes, we’ve had a lot of media coverage, but no substantial change has happened. No one has gone to jail, or even to court. No oil palm company’s license has been revoked, or at least suspended. The government is still sitting on their lazy asses not doing much of anything, other than granting more and more forest exploitation permits, of course. The status of the orangutans is still the same; it’s protected. The status of their habitats is still the same; they’re mostly unprotected.

The private sector, especially the palm oil industry, is laughing at us openly. Can’t you hear them? You think they have suffered revenue loss because of this movement? Think again! NGOs are still having a hard time raising funds in this country and still heavily rely on overseas funding. Most Indonesians stop at “awwh, how cute… “ and/or “awwh, so sad…” Once we ask them to contribute by adopting an orangutan – which only costs around Rp116,000/month or equivalent to 3 cups of coffee at Starbucks – they recoil.

So what good has this movement done for the conservation of orangutans?

Let me tell you, this movement has done wonders!

NEVER in the history of orangutan conservations has the PR Value of media coverage reached over Rp4billion in 2 months! The awareness is undoubtedly the highest ever. Sure, the awareness is still skimming the surface and not much than “awwh, how cute… “ and/or “awwh, so sad…” But we had NEVER even had an “awwh, how cute… “ and/or “awwh, so sad…” moment before this. So this is a MAJOR progress! Let them be. Let them “awwh” and “oooh” all they want. Let them do this for at least a year. Because if it can last that long, then it will be easy(er) to deliver more conservation messages to them, giving them the right information and education, steering them into having stronger desires and motivating them to take real actions. For now, let them be. Let them scream. Just let them.

Secondly, never in the history of orangutan conservation that the government has been so open and welcoming. They’re suddenly more willing to discuss anything. Okay, let’s not be result-oriented at this point. The fact that they’re willing to discuss is SOMETHING! It’s obvious that they’ve started to panic… just a little bit… but still, they’re panicking. And that’s good.

Last but certainly not least, the oil palm industry has started to worry too. They don’t want to admit it yet. But we know they worry. Some have started to issue statements. Some have made several bold agreements with NGOs. Some have started to approach NGOs. They’ve started to worry. Their income is hardly affected by all this drama, but they’ve started to worry for some of the more intangible loss in the future. And that’s good.

So, the #SaveOrangutan movement is both bad and good. But mostly good. Keep it up! And thank you :-)