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| A heavy machine clearing up forest in Tripa swamp forest, Nagan Raya, Aceh province, Indonesia. Villagers who live around the forest filed a law suit against Aceh's charismatic governor Irwandi Yusuf for giving a private company a permit to convert it into a palm oil plantation. (AP Photo) |
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President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday criticized foreign environmental
organizations that he claimed overly attacked Indonesian forestry policy.
“Don’t mess
with Indonesia as if our nation has no government, no people and as if
Indonesia doesn’t want to save its environment,” he said during a speech at a
Mother’s Day celebration.
He said
criticism is constructive, but Indonesia has been overly criticized.
While it is
positive to maintain forests, he said that it was equally important to increase
people’s welfare by creating forestry businesses, such as palm oil plantations.
“But if
Indonesia is requested to close down all palm oil plantations, it will destroy
Indonesia’s economy and millions of people will lose their jobs,” he said.
“This is overwhelming.”
Indonesia
has made several international media headlines recently after a controversial
permit was issued by Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf for a pristine, wildlife-rich
forest to be razed and replaced by a palm oil plantation.
Yudhoyono
said all nations in the world have a moral obligation to contribute to the
effort to save the environment, especially advanced nations where he claimed
forests have almost disappeared.
“Indonesia
plants a billion trees a year, and it should also be done by other nations for
the sake of humanity worldwide.”
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