Indonesia executes six drug convicts, five of them foreigners

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Widodo has pledged to bring reform to Indonesia

Ban appeals to Indonesia to stop death row executions

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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded to Indonesia to stop the execution of prisoners on death row for drug crimes. AFP PHOTO

Pope: 'Death penalty represents failure' – no 'humane' way to kill a person

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The pope wrote that the principle of legitimate personal defense isn’t adequate justification to execute someone. Photograph: Zuma/Rex

Obama becomes first president to visit US prison (US Justice Systems / Human Rights)

Obama becomes first president to visit US prison   (US Justice Systems / Human Rights)
US President Barack Obama speaks as he tours the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, July 16, 2015 (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

US Death Penalty (Justice Systems / Human Rights)

US Death Penalty (Justice Systems / Human Rights)
Woman who spent 23 years on US death row cleared (Photo: dpa)



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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Monkeying Around at Jakarta's Schmutzer Primate Center

The Jakarta Globe, Tasa Nugraza Barley

The Schmutzer Primate Center, located inside Ragunan Zoo, has created an environment that aims to emulate the natural habitats of the animals. A bridge and a tunnel have also been installed for visitors to get a better view. (JG Photo/Tasa Nugraza Barley)

The zoo keepers who take care of the apes and monkeys at Ragunan Zoo have a problem: Their wives get jealous of the time they spend caring for their charges.

“All I can say to her is that it’s my responsibility to look after these animals,” said Dwi Suprihadi, who has worked at the zoo since 1994, transferring to the Schmutzer Primate Center when it opened in 2002.

Dwi and 22 other zoo keepers are tasked with keeping the center’s primates healthy and happy.

Zoo keeper Namin, who has worked at the zoo for seven years, said taking care of monkeys was like taking care of babies. “Primates are like humans and need love and care,” he said.

Namin said that primates, especially the apes, also feel emotions like anger, sadness, even jealousy. Sometimes, he added, the older primates get angry or jealous if he gives food to the younger ones first. “For that reason, a zoo keeper has to remember each primate’s character traits,” he said.

The center is named after a Dutch woman, Pauline Schmutzer, a painter who lived in Wonorejo, East Java. Schmutzer proposed the idea of opening the first primate center in Indonesia. She also donated much of her wealth to make such an undertaking possible.

Schmutzer, an active member of The Gibbon Foundation, an organization that campaigns to preserve endangered animals in Indonesia, died in 1998, four years before she saw her dream become a reality.

The center, which opened in August of 2002, occupies 13 hectares of the zoo’s 140-hectare facility at Ragunan and proudly claims to be best primate center in Southeast Asia, citing its size and the fact that it is the only center in the region to host gorillas.

Aburizal, 25, and his friends recently visited the center for the first time.

“I was shocked to see that the primate center was this good,” he said, adding that he had expected it to be similar to other tourist attractions in Jakarta, by which he meant poorly maintained.

He said he also was surprised by the size of the gorillas.

“They look kind of scary, but it looks like they’re actually quite nice animals.”

The Schmutzer Primate Center has six species of primates: orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, macaques, gibbons and leaf monkeys.

Dwi said that over the past seven years, the center’s staff members have worked hard to create facilities that resemble the natural habitats of the primates in an attempt to create the best possible enclosed environment for the animals.

“In some of the enclosures, natural food is grown so that the primates can feel like they are living in the real jungle,” he said.

Visitors to the Schmutzer Primate Center are prohibited from bringing food or drinks with them.

If you happen to be carrying even a bottle of mineral water, you have to store it inside one of the lockers provided at the entrance gate. The idea behind these strict measures is to make sure that visitors aren’t tempted to feed the primates.

“We strictly implement this policy because we monitor the diets of all the primates very carefully,” Dwi said.

He added, however, that there were still some visitors who would badger the animals.

“Some visitors like to make funny sounds or throw things at them. The gorillas don’t like that, they can get stressed,” Dwi said.

For that reason, the zoo keepers are always encouraged to conduct routine patrols during busy hours.

Of all the primates at the Schmutzer Primate Center, it is the gorillas that receive the most attention from the visitors.

Namin said the center was proud to be the only place in Southeast Asia that kept gorillas. Currently, there are three male gorillas at the Schmutzer Primate Center.

The gorillas were donated in 2002 by the United Kingdom’s Howllets Wild Animal Park.

They are low-land gorillas originally from African countries such as Congo and Gabon.

The three gorillas are named Kumbo, Kihi and Komu . All weigh about 170 kilograms. Both Kumbo and Kihi were born in 1995, while Komu was born in 1997.

“Gorillas can live up to 40 to 50 years. These gorillas that we have can grow up to 200 kilograms,” Dwi said.

Due to their size, and the influence of such Hollywood films as “King Kong,” there is a general misconception among the public that the largest of the primates are killing machines.

“That’s not true,” Dwi said.

He explained that a gorilla was highly unlikely to attack unless provoked. “That’s why we sometimes refer to them as gentle giants,” he said.

However, Dwi emphasized that gorillas were still considered wild animals and even the zoo keepers had to be careful not to make direct contact with them.

Rusdi Indradewa, 25, another visitor to the center, said he had suffered from a phobia of monkeys for a long time and that he had come to the Schmutzer Primate Center to overcome this fear. He said he had never liked monkeys and that just being around them left him shaking.

“Those gorillas look so big and scary,” Rusdi said. But he was surprised to find out that gorillas only ate fruit and vegetables.

“I have to say that it wasn’t easy, especially being so close to those big and scary gorillas. It took me an hour to work up the nerve to go inside the complex,” he said.

The Schmutzer Primate Center has worked to provide comfortable enclosures for the animals and also to give visitors the opportunity to view the apes, gorillas and monkeys from different angles in enclosures resembling as much as possible their natural habitats.

A seven-meter-high bridge crosses one section of the gorilla enclosure, and visitors are able to watch the animals interacting with one another from above.

A walk through a tunnel in the orangutan enclosure allows visitors to get up close and personal with the “man of the forest.”

Dwi acknowledged that, as a zoo keeper, a strong emotional attachment had grown between him and the gorillas.

“I see them as my friends and family,” he said. “I always get angry when people try to harm or annoy them.”

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Schmutzer Primate Center

Sari Widiati Photos by Yoppy Pieter


This is one of the best animal attractions in Jakarta, and also plays an important role in conserving Indonesia's primates. Located within the Ragunan Zoo in a 13-hectare complex, the concept is an "open zoo," where the protected creatures live as if in their original habitat.

The Schmutzer Primate Center was opened on 22 August 2002, realizing the dreams of a primate enthusiast, Mrs. Pauline Antoinette Adeline Schmutzer Versteegh through the Gibbon Foundation, with the aims of conserving primate species while both educating and entertaining visitors.

The collection comprises around 190 creatures of 21 species, both Indonesian and foreign, ranging in size from the huge gorilla down to the tiny tarsier. The Primate Center is one of the few zoos in Asia that maintains any gorillas. It's also home to the world's second oldest chimpanzee, now aged 63.

The primate center is full of greenery, and the space is allocated very attractively. The education center presents complete information on the primates, including photos, with a very orderly layout. The open area includes special spaces where the primates can display their behavior, large cages for primate groups, a canopy for visitors who wish to observe the primates from a height of 15 meters, and a 250-meter orangutan tunnel.

Of course, visitors must obey certain rules to protect the comfort of both visitors and the "residents" who are found in nearly every corner of the area.

Pusat Primata Schmutzer

Jl. Harjono RM No. 1

Ragunan, Jakarta 12550

T. (62 21) 780 6975

F. (62 21) 780 5280

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