Whodunnit!

An angry mob surrounded the offices of Greenpeace Indonesia yesterday in what some are viewing as a "hired help" demonstration having been commissioned.


The potential candidates who ordered the hit include:


Mattel "Barbie destroys natural forests and pushes rare species such as tigers to the brink of extinction," Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said.

Sinar Mas (APP is the Pulp and Paper arm of this Conglomerate within Indonesia): "APP is bad news for Indonesia's forests. It treats Indonesia as nothing more than a vast disposable asset, grabbing rainforests that are vital to forest communities," Maitar said.

Could it be the Police?

No matter who, it seems that anyone who attempts to save the natural resources within Indonesia ultimately gets attacked, dismissed, transferred or just generally derided such that any impact that they may have had is marginalised.

Yesterday, it was the turn of Greenpeace to feel the heat, although, funnily enough it appeared to be an attempt at extortion rather than "negative selling" with legendary Jakarta thugs the FBR (Betawi Brotherhood Forum) making all the noise.

Known locally as rent a mob, the FBR are known to turn up, make amusing unreal demands and then adopt a threatening stance when they are treated as a petulant child.  Their stance yesterday was that Greenpeace was an illegal organisation as they had not registered with the Jakarta City organisation. 

Greenpeace spokeswoman Nur Hidayati retorted with the fact that they had, as required by law, registered with the Minstry of Justice and Human Rights.

The piece below is from today's Jakarta Globe:

An FBR spokesman yelled at Nur Hidayati, saying her response was “arrogant” and indicated that the NGO was concerned about being audited.

The Greenpeace representative said they had nothing to hide and each year received 50,000 individual donations in Indonesia alone.

Greenpeace has recently been in the news for its sustained campaign against the palm oil industry in Indonesia, in particular deforestation activities by major palm oil companies, including Sinar Mas.

FBR spokesman Fajri Husbin demanded that Greenpeace stop spreading negative stories about Indonesian companies, particularly those that created local jobs.

Protesters outside the offices also demanded Greenpeace employees sing the national anthem and recite the state ideology Pancasila and if they could not, face eviction from Indonesia.

 Love it here. No matter what goes on there's always a whiff of WTF ......

One mans fag is another mans medicine!

I quit smoking at 7:36pm on the 6th of April 2010 and have not indulged in a cigarette since then. One single draw on a cigarette about a month later was all the encouragement I needed to stay away!


However, the people in this country have differing ideas on the effects of tobacco, so much so that they use it to cure cancer!





The tobacco industry is huge here and the Indonesian governments new tobacco bill aimed at reducing the amount of tobacco consumed in an attempt to stave of future health problems is under attack from the farmers who claim ( quite correctly I imagine) that there will be massive job losses.


What better way to protest than show that you have faith in your product!


 


Figures suggest that kids start smoking around 10 years old and that approximately 30% of Indonesians smoke at least 12 cigarettes a day!. Nice local market to have, but, the governments plan to eliminate Tobacco Advertising, prohibit smoking in public and put the obligatory diseased lung shots on the fag packet will cause a gaping revenue hole for the local manufacturers.





With the government at odds to save some of the 400,000 people a year who die from smoking related illnesses or to consider the tax revenues from this industry there are tough decisions to be made and once again, Indonesia proves that it can pretend to do the right thing while ignoring the problem.


Hence the reason for the Smoking Hospital being mentioned earlier.  It has all the permits, health credentials and is allowed to operate as a health care facility and is unlikely to be closed.


Cancer. no probs. Let me get a wadge of smoke in your earhole....





Piles, we got you covered, let me inject some of this shit into your big toe!





Sort of says it all.....Indonesia, never a dull moment.