Jakarta’s ‘Topeng Monyet’ Could Be Released Into the Wild: Joko

Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, February 6, 2014

Children watch a trained monkey wearing a mask during a “topeng monyet”
(masked monkey) show, a traditional Indonesian street performance, in East Jakarta,
in this file picture taken on April 25, 2011. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Jakarta. Dozens of masked monkeys seized in the Indonesian capital may be released into the wild after the city’s zoo declined to take the animals into its care, Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said on Thursday.

The Jakarta administration staged a city-wide crackdown on topeng monyet — a cruel practice where long-tailed macaques are forced to wear costumes and perform for spare change — last October, purchasing the monkeys from handlers for Rp 1 million ($82) each. More than 60 monkeys were seized in the sweeps, putting an end to what was once a common sight on the streets of Jakarta. But the question of what to do with the animals, many of which suffered years of abuse, still hangs in the air.

The monkeys, which are being rehabilitated by the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), were initially slated for the city’s Ragunan Zoo. But zoo officials have declined to take in the capital’s street monkeys, arguing that they suffered from diseases and posed a threat to the facilities current animal population.

“The illnesses vary, from hepatitis to tuberculosis, so if Ragunan Zoo doesn’t want them, then that’s OK,” Joko said.

Instead, the city should look to releasing the monkeys into the wild, he said.

“The ill monkeys have to be healed, but once they’re healthy we may release them to the forest,” Joko said.

JAAN wild animal protection coordinator Femke den Haas told the Jakarta Globe that the animals were no longer sick. Fourteen macaques were put down after testing positive for tuberculosis, Den Haas said. The remaining 67 are free of disease and slowly learning to socialize with other macaques — a significant step after spending much of their lives living alongside humans.

“All the monkeys we have now are healthy, so they are ready to be transferred to wherever is best for them,” Den Haas said. “[But] we still have to socialize them [first]… to socialize monkeys who are traumatized and have not spent time around other monkeys takes time.

“That is why we don’t want them relocated now.”

The organization, which campaigned for years to get the monkeys off the streets, has floated the idea of purchasing an uninhabited island in Pulau Seribu — the capital’s Thousand Islands district — to house the animals. The group is now staging a fundraising campaign to buy the small island and establish a topeng monyet sanctuary.

“We at JAAN believe the monkeys are best off on an island,” Den Haas said. “They will be happy on an island… but for Jakarta, for the government, it would be great if they had an enclosure for these dancing monkeys.”

JAAN hoped Ragunan Zoo would reconsider its refusal to accept the monkeys and construct an appropriate habitat and eduction center to show the capital’s residents that the animals are better off after the sweeps.

“They should make as mall museum to show the pictures we have of these monkeys when they were still working on the street,” Den Haas said. “It could be very educational for Jakarta citizens. They could learn about them and see that the monkeys are now happy and living in groups. I think it is good to educate the public.”

The capital’s move to ban performing monkeys has been wildly successful, Den Haas said.

“We don’t see any monkeys on Jakarta’s streets anymore,” she said. “We used to get phone calls every day, but now we don’t get phone calls about monkeys [in] Jakarta.”

The organization still receives word of topeng monyet performing in the West Java cities of Bandung and Bekasi, but the measures taken by Joko’s administration seem to be catching on, she said. The local government in Bandung is currently preparing for sweeps of its own.

“We think other cities will follow,” Den Haas said.

Related Article:

Jakarta Ramps-Up Efforts to End Masked Monkey Performances