Jakarta Globe, October 19, 2013
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| A monkey wears a mask during a Topeng Monyet (Monkey Mask) show, a traditional Indonesian street performance, in eastern Jakarta on April 25, 2011. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta) |
Jakarta
Governor Joko Widodo announced an innovative solution to rid the capital of
masked monkeys on Friday. The government will buyback all monkeys used as street
buskers in a campaign that aims to put an end to the cruel practice known
locally as topeng monyet.
“This has
become an international issue,” Joko said, according to the city government ’snews portal. “Have pity on the monkeys because they are being exploited by
their owners.”
The
costumed long-tailed macaques are a regular fixture on Jakarta’s streets, where
they are often in the company of young children busking for spare change. The
primates, dressed in tiny outfits, with the head of a doll worn as a mask, are
made to carry small buckets for spare change or ride tiny push motorcycles to
entertain spectators.
They are
taught to walk upright by trainers who hang them from chains, forcing the
macaques to use their hind legs instead of walking on all fours. Most are
trained and sold from East Jakarta’s South Cipinang Besar slum, an area known
locally as Kampung Monyet, or monkey village.
Animal
rights groups have long-campaigned for a government order banning the barbaric
practice. Former Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo allowed the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) to seize the monkeys off the streets, but stopped short of
issuing a by-law banning their use.
When JAAN
confiscated 21 monkeys in August of last year, four tested positive for a host
of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, hepatitis, herpes and tetanus,
raising concerns of a disease outbreak in Jakarta.
The group
has since began an awareness campaign, informing buskers that they monkeys are
both in violation of Indonesian law and possible carriers of disease.
Joko’s
administration ordered the city’s Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) to crackdown on the practice. Plain-clothes officers began seizing street monkeys as early
as February of this year, confiscating the primates and issuing penalties to
their handlers.
The Jakarta
government prepared a one-hectare field at Ragunan Zoo to house the purchased
macaques. The street buskers will be taught career skills to find a new job,
Joko said. The administration aims to make Jakarta topeng monyet-free by 2014.
“We will
provide training for the animal caretakers,” Joko said.
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