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 ......