Indonesia mourns 15 years after Boxing Day tsunami

Yahoo – AFP, December 26, 2019

Nurhayati, 65 (R), who lost her 17-year-old daughter in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami
and is still traumatized, prays at a cemetery containing mass graves in Siron, in
Indonesia's Aceh province on December 26, 2019 (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP) - Thousands of mourners flocked to mass graves Thursday in Indonesia's Aceh province to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in history.

On a grassy field in Aceh Besar district where at least 47,000 victims were laid to rest, family members and relatives prayed, scattered flower petals and comforted each other.

Among them was Nurhayati who lost her youngest daughter in the disaster.

"I came here every year because I miss her so much, she was only 17, just started college," the 65-year-old told AFP, sobbing.

"It's been 15 years but even until now every time I see an ocean, even on TV, I shudder and feel like a big wave would be coming soon," she said.

Many people who lost loved ones in the disaster do not know where they were 

buried. Here, a woman walks past people praying at a cemetery containing mass 

graves in Siron, in Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

Almost 170,000 were killed in Aceh province alone when a 9.1 magnitude undersea quake struck the predominantly Muslim province on December 26, 2004, triggering massive tsunami waves that also killed another 50,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, even as far as Somalia.

Some half a million people were left homeless by the catastrophe that destroyed much of the province.

Muhammad Ikramullah was only 13 when the tsunami hit, killing his parents and younger sibling. He spent years moving around, living with relatives and his parents' friends until he was able to provide for himself.

A cemetery in Ulee Lheue, Banda Aceh, contains mass graves of victims from the 

2004 tsunami which killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean -- 

most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

"I am still traumatised, I don't think I will ever forget what happened," the 28-year-old said.

The remains of his family have never been found, but like most people who visit the mass grave every year, Ikramullah only wanted to pray for his loved ones even though their bodies might not be buried there.

Years after the disaster, bodies are still being discovered. In 2018, the remains of dozens of people were found in a newly built housing complex.

Some have never found where their family members were buried.

Indonesian tsunami survivor Jony, 48 (R), and his daughter (L) pray at a cemetery 

containing mass graves in Siron, Aceh province, on the 15th anniversary of the disaster 
which killed 170,000 people in the province (AFP Photo/CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN)

"I don't know where my mother was buried," Jony China told AFP.

"But I keep coming here because I have a feeling she was close," he said.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to it position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide.

Last year a tsunami triggered by a volcanic earthquake killed nearly 500 people in Banten province.

Related Articles:

As world honours the dead, Indonesia begins tsunami memorials

"Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… Mass Human Death

The final one, dear Human, is the hardest one for my partner and the one we wish to leave you with in this channeling tonight. This is the one that my partner doesn't want to even have me talk about. It's the appropriateness of mass death. For you, built in to your very essence is the honor for life, and the sorrow when it passes. It's correct and appropriate that this is there, and never let it be tempered. But the wisdom of understanding is also needed to help you get past some challenges of the Human heart.

"Dear Kryon, was the tsunami really necessary?" Yes it was. Almost 200,000 Human Beings passed over. It's an event that for you is filled with horror, sorrow, emotion, and challenge. Back in 1989, we told you of those that might have to leave the earth en masse, and here it is. Yet even my partner [Lee] asks the questions, "Why the children? Why the poorest parts of the earth? Why the seeming inappropriateness of all this death?"

And I say to you the same thing I said with respect to Terri: Do you understand yet that death is often as precious as life on this planet of many energies and lessons? They are not gone! They're all here [speaking from Kryon's perspective]. They're having a great time! They're joyful! It seems like a moment ago they leaned into the wind of birth with us beside them. We said, "How would you like to participate in an event that will change the compassion factor of the planet so that energies can move forward and provide faster acceleration of vibratory shift? How would you like to help create peace on earth through a consciousness shift within Gaia itself? And they said, "Show us the way!"

Do you understand why we are in love with humanity... that you would love the earth and the Universe so much that you would go through these things? So much of what you see is horrible tragedy, yet you're looking at the heroes of humanity as they deliver a gift that will change the very fabric of Gaia through the compassion created as a wave of humanity responds to their plight.

They knew the potentials and they went through with it. Even the children knew, for they're old souls within their divinity. There was so much compassion created at that time, in that one week, the earth has never seen anything like it in your lifetime. Billions of Humans were involved with a compassion that instantly went to the core of the planet. It went into the earth and it's still there. It changed the actual energy of where you walk and it planted a seeds that will grow that will indeed emerge later in Israel, and those surrounding Israel.

And that's what it's about. Yet some of you didn't want to hear that, did you? But they're here, with me now... and with you as well. How could you fit them all in this room, you might ask? They can fit on the head of a pin! That's interdimensional talk. They can go home in your purse or your pocket! That's interdimensional talk, too. And they've got a message for you that we've given before, but you can't hear it enough: "We did our part - now you do yours, Lighthouse! For the ones who remain are the only ones who can manipulate the tools we have helped create."

When you go home tonight, you're not going to be in a survival situation - in a tent in a tribe with no lights or clean water, with no food. You're not going to be in sorrow or despair. Instead, you go home to a warm place with plenty of food and friendship and the love of family. That's why you're the Lighthouses, because you have time for it. You've got the intellect for it. You're not in survival mode, as is so much of humanity on the earth. You have the education for it and the intuition for it. Now, do you understand why there are so many Lighthworkers in the western world? It's because your culture has created a situation where there's abundance of these things, and it allows you to lead the way in changing the energy of earth, instead of having all your time spent just trying to survive. Does this help you understand the responsibility of what you have before you?

Strike the light and send it to the Sudanese. Strike light and send it to those dark places with governments where there's corruption. Strike the light and send it to the scientists and researchers who already have the cures for the more virulent diseases on the planet, but can't begin their work due to the barriers of certain leadership and their old ways. Strike the light and send it to Israel and Palestine and get on with this solution! This is why you're here, and this is the agreement you made when you arrived and selected the culture you live in.

Achievable in your lifetime, it is. Peace and compassion will prevail. You shall see. You shall see.

And so it is.

Kryon

Indonesia's halal tourism bid faces pig pushback

Yahoo – AFP, Albert Ivan Damanik, with Haeril Halim in Jakarta, October 31, 2019

Contestants in a pig-catching competition show off their prize in Muara,
Indonesia (AFP Photo/Albert Ivan Damanik)

Indonesia's bid to lure more visitors by spreading halal tourism across the archipelago is facing a backlash, with a Christian celebration of pigs -- forbidden for Muslims -- the latest act of dissent.

The weekend festival-cum-protest in Sumatra, featuring pig racing, chubbiest hog contests and a porcine fashion show, comes as holiday hotspot Bali pushes back against rolling out more Muslim-friendly services on the Hindu island.

Critics say a government plan to cash in on halal tourism -- part of a broader campaign to replicate Bali's success nationwide -- is another threat to minority rights in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

And critics have warned that the sprawling nation of 260 million -- where nearly 90 percent of the population follows Islam -- is taking hard-right turn with a conservative cleric now installed as vice-president and hardliners growing increasingly vocal in public life.

Indonesia's reputation for tolerant Islam has been under fire for years.

Pushing halal tourism in areas with religious minorities -- including Christians, Buddhists and Hindus -- may do more harm than good, warned Ali Munhanif, an expert on political Islam at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

Indonesian children gather around a caged pig at the Lake Toba 

Festival in Muara, on Sumatra island (AFP Photo/Albert Ivan Damanik)

"The phenomenon signals an effort to institutionalise conservatism," he said.

"Bali successfully manages its tourism sector without using a 'Hindu' label.

But advocates say halal tourism is misunderstood.

"There is a public misperception that halal tourism is Islamisation. That is wrong and it's why some people overreact to the concept," said Zainut Tauhid, Indonesia's deputy minister of religious affairs.

"It is about providing necessary facilities for Muslim visitors such as prayer rooms. So it is facilitation rather than Islamisation."

'Divide people'

That view isn't shared by some around Lake Toba, a scenic crater lake in Sumatra where the weekend pig festival was held.

Indonesian children take part in a pig-themed colouring contest (AFP Photo/

Albert Ivan Damanik)

Most locals are Batak, a Christian ethnic group that puts pigs at the centre of its traditional cuisine, with hog farming a key source of income.

Last month, provincial governor Edy Rahmayadi raised eyebrows when said he wanted to boost tourism with Islam-friendly facilities and services.

That included opening more halal restaurants and mosques, as well as banning the public slaughter of hogs, with the governor saying the practice could turn off Muslim visitors.

"This idea to bring in halal tourism is going to divide people," festival organiser Togu Simorangkir told AFP

"It's a step back for tourism here," he added.

About 1,000 people dropped by the event, including children who scribbled in pig-themed colouring books and adults watching as hogs were judged on their plump proportions.

"Batak culture is particularly known for its pigs," said higher schooler Edo Sianturi.

A blindfolded boy takes part in a pig-catching competition during a 

festival in Muara (AFP Photo/Albert Ivan Damanik)

"We've been raising them and earning a living from them for generations."

Visitor Sabrina Singarimbun, a Muslim student in a head-covering hijab, was keen to see which best-dressed pig would win the festival's fashion contest.

"I disagree with the (halal tourism) idea because it's Batak culture here and most people aren't Muslim," she said.

'Tourism is about happiness'

Elsewhere, halal tourism is often seen as a lucrative business opportunity.

Thailand and Taiwan are among regional destinations tapping the halal tourism sector, which a 2017 study found will be worth some $300 billion annually.

This month, Indonesia ushered in new halal labelling rules for consumer products and services, as the government eyes travellers from other Islamic nations to rev up its much-touted "10 New Balis" tourism push, which includes Lake Toba.

But efforts to cater to Muslim visitors has drawn controversy.

A farmer splashes water over pigs in their pen during the Pig and Pork Lake 

Toba Festival in Muara (AFP Photo/Albert Ivan Damanik)

This summer, officials in Lombok -- an island next to Bali that has many Muslim-friendly services -- quickly rolled back plans to set up separate camping areas for male and female hikers in Mount Rinjani National Park after a public backlash.

Two restaurants in Makassar on Sulawesi island, meanwhile, were forced to close after a Muslim group in July complained that the smell of their pork dishes was wafting over to nearby mosques and halal restaurants.

Back in North Sumatra, the governor's spokesman Muhammad Ikhsan said his boss was misunderstood.

"He just wants to make Lake Toba a friendly place for Muslim visitors," Ikhsan said, adding that he hoped it would also curtail the environmental impact of pig farming.

"What we want is just to make things organised, not to make it a halal place."

Indonesia arrests nearly 200 over raging forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, September 16, 2019

The fires -- usually started by illegal burning to clear land for farming -- have
unleashed choking haze across Southeast Asia (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Indonesia has arrested nearly 200 people over vast forest fires ripping across the archipelago, police said Monday, as toxic haze sends air quality levels plummeting and sparks flight cancellations.

Jakarta has deployed thousands of personnel to battle blazes that are turning land into charred landscapes and consuming forests in Sumatra and Borneo islands, where thousands of schools have been shut over health fears.

The fires -- usually started by illegal burning to clear land for farming -- have unleashed choking haze across Southeast Asia, triggering diplomatic tensions with Indonesia's neighbours.

On Monday, authorities said they had arrested some 185 people suspected of being involved in activities that led to out-of-control fires sweeping the country.

"Indonesian Police will enforce the law against anyone who is proven to have carried out forest and land burning, whether it was done intentionally or through negligence," National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told reporters in Jakarta.

Indonesia's peat fires: a smouldering problem (AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

"This is a last resort. The most important thing is prevention."

Four corporations were also being investigated, he added.

Last week, Indonesia sealed off dozens of plantations where smog-belching fires were blazing, and warned that owners -- including Malaysia and Singapore-based firms -- could face criminal charges if there was evidence of illegal burning.

Some of the most serious fires occur in peatlands, which are highly combustible when drained of water to be converted into agricultural plantations.

Thick haze in Borneo -- where air quality levels have plummeted to "dangerous" levels in some areas -- caused the cancellation of about a dozen flights Sunday, national airline Garuda said.

Rival Lion Air said about 160 Borneo flights had been affected at the weekend.

Meanwhile, nearly 150,000 people have been treated for acute respiratory infections linked to the haze in recent months, according to Indonesian health authorities.

Nearly 150,000 people have been treated for acute respiratory infections 

linked to the haze in recent months (AFP Photo/Str)

While forest fires are an annual problem, the situation this year has been worsened by drier weather in Indonesia, with diplomatic tensions soaring as toxic smog drifts over to neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

The haze pushed Singapore's air quality to unhealthy levels for the first time in three years at the weekend.

In 2015, Indonesia suffered its worst forest fires for almost two decades, which dramatically increased its greenhouse gas emissions.

Huge fires tearing through the Amazon are also compounding concerns about the long-term impact of such blazes on keeping global temperature levels stable.

Related Articles:

Singapore air 'unhealthy' ahead of F1 race

Indonesia is battling forest fires causing toxic haze across southeast Asia with aircraft, artificial rain and even prayer, President Joko Widodo said during a visit to a hard-hit areahttps://t.co/eyIkMCRURG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 17 september 2019

Number missing in Indonesia ferry disaster jumps again to 192: official

Yahoo – AFP, Lazuardy Fahmi, June 20, 2018

The wooden boat was believed to be operating illegally, with no manifest or passenger
tickets -- hampering efforts to estimate how many passengers may have been on
board (AFP Photo/JON NST)

Simalungun (Indonesia) (AFP) - As many as 192 passengers could be missing after a ferry sank into the depths of a volcanic lake in Indonesia, the search-and-rescue agency said Wednesday, tripling initial government estimates.

But the agency's head cautioned that it was still unclear how many people were aboard the vessel when it capsized Monday in Lake Toba, a popular tourist destination on Sumatra island.

The traditional wooden boat may have been operating illegally with no manifest or passenger tickets, sparking confusion and a string of changing official passenger estimates.

Indonesia's disaster agency originally said some 80 people along with dozens of motorcycles were on the overloaded, 43-passenger capacity vessel when it overturned and sank.

So far, four bodies have been found and another 18 people rescued, according to the agency.

By Wednesday, the official number of missing had jumped several times to 192 passengers.

Authorities based the figures on reports from families whose missing relatives may have been on the doomed vessel, but their accounts are difficult to verify.

If confirmed, it would be one of Indonesia's deadliest maritime disasters.

"Many people got on the boat without a ticket so it's unclear how many were on board," Muhammad Syaugi, the head of the search and rescue agency, told AFP.

Later at a press conference, Syaugi added: "There are many people who have reported their relatives missing, but whether they were on the boat or not we don't know."

The search has now turned to recovering bodies -- including those that may still be trapped inside the sunken boat.

'Please bring back my son'

"We'll be here until they find my brother's body," said Nurhayati, among hundreds of grief-stricken people waiting by the shore for updates.

"We just want to see his body and take him with us."

Rescue team members prepare to search for missing passengers at the 

Lake Toba ferry port (AFP Photo/IVAN DAMANIK)

Sobbing mother Suwarni pleaded for news of her son and his fiancé, both believed to have been on board.

"Why are the rescue teams so slow?" said the 55-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

"I'm so disappointed -- there's no progress here. Please bring back my son."

Authorities have deployed divers and underwater vehicles, along with about 400 personnel, to search the enormous lake in an operation expected to last at least a week.

Lake Toba, popular with international and domestic tourists, fills the crater of a supervolcano that erupted tens of thousands of years ago.

It is one of the world's deepest lakes and extends some 1,145 square kilometres (440 square miles).

The rescue agency has said it plans to search as deep as 400 metres for the sunken vessel.

Images from the scene Wednesday showed rescuers covering up the bloated body of a woman who had washed ashore.

It was not clear if any foreigners were on board the ferry or what caused the disaster.

Survivor accounts said the boat began shaking as it struggled to navigate strong winds and high waves about halfway into the 40-minute trip from an island in the middle of the lake to shore.

Muslim-majority Indonesia has been celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid since Friday and millions go on holiday during the festivities, with Lake Toba among the top destinations.

The deadly disaster came just days after more than a dozen people were killed in an unrelated ferry accident in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation, where many people depend on boats to get around.

Traditional vessels -- like the one in the Lake Toba disaster -- are rarely equipped with enough life preservers and their condition can be dire.

Enforcement of safety standards also tends to be weak, underscoring Indonesia's woeful boat safety record.

In 2015 a ferry sank off the coast of the island of Sulawesi, leaving 78 dead or missing.

More than 300 people are estimated to have drowned in 2009 when a ferry sank between Sulawesi and Borneo.

Map of Indonesia locating the area where a ferry capsized on June 18 pic.twitter.com/k0OR3LfXpx

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 20, 2018

Philippe Cousteau’s Journey to Sumatra

Jakarta Globe, September 24, 2013

In ‘Expedition Sumatra,’ Cousteau and his team take viewers to see how
 deforestation has affected the island’s endangers species and indigenous
people. (Photo courtesy of CNN)

Philippe Cousteau hopes people will be “amazed by the beauty” of Sumatra when they watch his new television series which follows his trek across the island’s rainforest on CNN.

The CNN special corespondent and environmental adventurer and his team recently journeyed to see how deforestation has affected the island’s endangered species and indigenous people.

Throughout the eight-part series “Expedition: Sumatra,” which launched on Sept. 13, the team visits an orangutan sanctuary, learns how farmers repel elephants instead of killing them, and witness the changing rainforest.

“I hope people are amazed by the beauty of this special place, I hope they are outraged by its destruction, but most of all, I hope they understand the power each of us has to change its future,” Cousteau said of the new series.

“We are linking the show with online resources and campaigns by terrific organizations who are encouraging the government to establish 30 Hills as a National Park and protect this critical habitat we were filming in.”

The 33-year-old environmental advocate, who is the grandson of French explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau, said the logistics were the biggest challenge they faced while filming in a remote location.

“Traveling with no infrastructure everything takes twice as long. All the details had to be planned out in advance,” Cousteau said .

“One of the things people always seemed fascinated by are some of the basics; for much of the expedition our toilet was a hole in the ground and our shower was a bucket.”

The social entrepreneur shared some of his thoughts with the Jakarta Globe about what he learned from his expedition across the Sumatran rainforest.

What was the most unexpected experience you had during filming?

When we visited the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the staff had me help teach an orphaned baby orangutan how to find food. They gave me a rotting piece of wood colonized by termites and told me I had to suck them out of the wood to demonstrate to the baby what to do.

This is an important source of protein for orangutans in the wild so I had to do it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the intent look on that little face as I did my best to slurp down termite larva.

What relationship were you able to develop with the local people?

One of the experiences that stands out for me was a visit to an indigenous Talang Mamak school. It was inspiring to see how engaged the young students were in learning about the truly unique part of the planet they call home. It was part of a school run by the Frankfurt Zoological Society to engage the local communities in understanding the importance of conservation. I got to test my creative skills with drawing pictures of local animals and participating in a puppet show.

In such extreme environments, what safety precautions do you take?

We couldn’t have made the trip without our friends and partners on the ground including the World Wildlife Fund and the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

From navigating issues like illegal logging and poaching to connecting with local communities and organizations, their assistance was invaluable.

Were you ever in any danger?

There was always the potential for danger. There were definitely groups that did not want us to tell this story including illegal loggers, poachers and representatives from industries and companies engaging in the pillaging of the island’s critical natural resources.

How do you think “Expedition: Sumatra” will contribute to environmental awareness?

Today, people want to experience the behind-the- scenes reality of how these types of expeditions unfold. With ‘Expedition: Sumatra,’ we made every effort to make viewers feel like they are part of the expedition team. The serialized format of the program creates a sense of anticipation of what will happen next that I think will appeal to viewers of all ages.

“Expedition: Sumatra” airs on CNN International each Friday at 10:30 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 4:30 p.m., Monday at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. and on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.

Female students in Indonesia may be forced to undergo 'virginity tests'

Indonesia's education chief Muhammad Rasyid has drafted plans to 'protect children from prostitution and free sex'

TheGuardian, Kate Hodal, Bangkok, Wednesday 21 August 2013

Schoolgirls in Sumatra: the plan for mandatory virginity tests has been
denounced by MPs, activists and rights groups. Photograph: Heri Juanda/AP

A plan to make female high school students undergo mandatory virginity tests has been met with outrage from activists, who argue that it discriminates against women and violates their human rights.

Education chief Muhammad Rasyid, of Prabumulih district in south Sumatra put forward the idea, describing it as "an accurate way to protect children from prostitution and free sex". He said he would use the city budget to begin tests early next year if MPs approved the proposal.

"This is for their own good," Rasyid said. "Every woman has the right to virginity … we expect students not to commit negative acts."

The test would require female senior school students aged 16 to 19 to have their hymen examined every year until graduation. Boys, however, would undergo no investigation into whether they had had sex.

The plan has met with some support from local politicians, who said the test would help cut down on "rampant" promiscuity in the district.

"Virginity is sacred, thus it's a disgrace for a [female] student to lose her virginity before getting married," Hasrul Azwar of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) told the Jakarta Post.

The proposal seems to be in response to increasing cases of premarital sex, local website Kompas reported, including the recent arrest of six senior high school students for alleged prostitution.

It is the third plan of its kind in Muslim-majority Indonesia, where similar drafts were proposed in West Java in 2007, and again in Sumatra in 2010, but dropped after a public outcry.

Local and national MPs, activists, rights groups and even the local Islamic advisory council have all denounced Rasyid's plan as potentially denying female students the universal right to education, in addition to targeting girls for an act that may not have even been consensual, such as sexual assault.

"There are female students who may have lost their virginity due to an accident − it is not their fault," South Sumatra legislative council deputy speaker HA Djauhari told local media.

The National Commission for Child Protection also denounced the plan as an attempt to curry "popularity" among religious conservatives, and called the move "excessive".

"Loss of virginity is not merely because of sexual activities," said Arist Merdeka Sirait of the commission. "It could be caused by sports or health problems and many other factors."

Just how the test would be implemented − and what consequences it could incur were it to be passed − is not yet clear, prompting local teachers to question whether those without intact hymens would still be allowed to attend classes.

Indonesia's education and culture minister, Muhammad Nuh, condemned the plan and said the district needed "a wiser way to address the issue of teen sex".

Virginity is a prized possession among many Indonesians, particularly in rural areas, and rapidly changing mores in a population of 240 million can sometimes create tension among the country's more conservative elders and its large, more moderate youth.

Last year saw lawmakers propose a ban on miniskirts because "provocative clothing makes men do things", while in the shariah-law province of Aceh, women have been ordered to sit side-saddle on motorbikes in order to better obscure the "curves of a woman's body".

Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono speaks

 with reporters at a press conference. The minister urged the Ministry

 of Education to shoot down a plan by a South Sumatra education

board to test girls’ virginity before allowing them to attend school.

JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Related Article:

Agung Shoots Down School Virginity Test Plan

'The Sumatran rainforest will mostly disappear within 20 years'

In only a few years, logging and agribusiness have cut Indonesia's vast rainforest by half. The government has renewed a moratorium on deforestation but it may already be too late for the endangered animals –and for the people whose lives lie in ruin

The Guardian, John Vidal, The Observer, Sunday 26 May 2013

Link to video: Sumatra, Indonesia: the rainforest's last stand

Our small plane had been flying low over Sumatra for three hours but all we had seen was an industrial landscape of palm and acacia trees stretching 30 miles in every direction. A haze of blue smoke from newly cleared land drifted eastward over giant plantations. Long drainage canals dug through equatorial swamps dissected the land. The only sign of life was excavators loading trees onto barges to take to pulp mills.

The end is in sight for the great forests of Sumatra and Borneo and the animals and people who depend on them. Thirty years ago the world's third- and sixth-largest islands were full of tigers, elephants, rhinos, orangutan and exotic birds and plants but in a frenzy of development they have been trashed in a single generation by global agribusiness and pulp and paper industries.

Their plantations supply Britain and the world with toilet paper, biofuels and vegetable oil to make everyday foods such as margarine, cream cheese and chocolate, but distraught scientists and environmental groups this week warn that one of the 21st century's greatest ecological disasters is rapidly unfolding.

Official figures show more than half of Indonesia's rainforest, the third-largest swath in the world, has been felled in a few years and permission has been granted to convert up to 70% of what remains into palm or acacia plantations. The government last week renewed a moratorium on the felling of rainforest, but nearly a million hectares are still being cut each year and the last pristine areas, in provinces such as Ache and Papua, are now prime targets for giant logging, palm and mining companies.

The toll on wildlife across an area nearly the size of Europe is vast, say scientists who warn that many of Indonesia's species could be extinct in the wild within 20-30 years. Orangutan numbers are in precipitous decline, only 250-400 tigers remain and fewer than 100 rhino are left in the forests, said the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Millions of hectares are nominally protected, but the forest is fragmented, national parks are surrounded by plantations, illegal loggers work with impunity and corruption is rife in government. "This is the fastest, most comprehensive transformation of an entire landscape that has ever taken place anywhere in the world including the Amazon. If it continues at this rate all that will be left in 20 years is a few fragmented areas of natural forest surrounded by huge manmade plantations. There will be increased floods, fires and droughts but no animals," said Yuyun Indradi, political forest campaigner with Greenpeace southeast Asia in Jakarta.

Last night the WWF's chief Asian tiger expert pleaded with the Indonesian government and the world to stop the growth of palm oil plantations. "Forest conversion is massive. We urgently need stronger commitment from the government and massive support from the people. We cannot tolerate any further conversion of natural forests," said Sunarto Sunarto in Jakarta.

Indonesia's deforestation has been accompanied by rising violence, say watchdog groups. Last year, more than 600 major land conflicts were recorded in the palm plantations. Many turned violent as communities that had lost their traditional forest fought multinational companies and security forces. More than 5,000 human rights abuses were recorded, with 22 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

"The legacy of deforestation has been conflict, increased poverty, migration to the cities and the erosion of habitat for animals. As the forests come down, social conflicts are exploding everywhere," said Abetnego Tarigan, director of Walhi, Indonesia's largest environment group.

Scientists fear that the end of the forest could come quickly. Conflict-wracked Aceh, which bore the brunt of the tsunami in 2004, will lose more than half its trees if a new government plan to change the land use is pushed through. A single Canadian mining company is seeking to exploit 1.77m hectares for mining, logging and palm plantations.

Large areas of central Sumatra and Kalimantan are being felled as coal, copper and gold mining companies move in. Millions of hectares of forest in west Papua are expected to be converted to palm plantations.

"Papuans, some of the poorest citizens in Indonesia, are being utterly exploited in legally questionable oil palm land deals that provide huge financial opportunities for international investors at the expense of the people and forests of West Papua," said Jago Wadley, a forest campaigner with the Environment Investigation Agency.

Despite a commitment last week from the government to extend a moratorium on deforestation for two years, Indonesia is still cutting down its forests faster than any other country. Loopholes in the law mean the moratorium only covers new licences and primary forests, and excludes key peatland areas and existing concessions which are tiger and elephant habitats. "No one seems able to stop the destruction," said Greenpeace International's forest spokesman, Phil Aikman.

The conflicts often arise when companies are granted dubious logging or plantation permissions that overlap with community-managed traditional forests and protected areas such as national parks.

Nine villages have been in conflict with the giant paper company April, which has permission to convert, with others, 450,000 hectares of deep peat forests on the Kampar Peninsula in central Sumatra. Because the area contains as much as 1.5bn tonnes of carbon, it has global importance in the fight against climate change.

"We would die for this [forest] if necessary. This is a matter of life and death. The forest is our life. We depend on it when we want to build our houses or boats. We protect it. The permits were handed out illegally, but now we have no option but to work for the companies or hire ourselves out for pitiful wages," said one village leader from Teluk Meranti who feared to give his name.

They accuse corrupt local officials of illegally grabbing their land. April, which strongly denies involvement in corruption, last week announced plans to work with London-based Flora and Fauna international to restore 20,000 hectares of degraded forest land.

Fifty miles away, near the town of Rengit, villagers watched in horror last year when their community forest was burned down – they suspect by people in the pay of a large palm oil company. "Life is terrible now. We are ruined. We used to get resin, wood, timber, fuel from the forest. Now we have no option but to work for the palm oil company. The company beat us. The fire was deliberate. This forest was everything for us. We used it as our supermarket, building store, chemist shop and fuel supplier for generations of people. Now we must put plastic on our roofs," said one man from the village of Bayesjaya who also asked not to be named.

Mursyi Ali from the village of Kuala Cenaku in the province of Riau, has spent 10 years fighting oil plantation companies which were awarded a giant concession. "Maybe 35,000 people have been impacted by their plantations. Everyone is very upset. People have died in protests. I have not accepted defeat yet. These conflicts are going on everywhere. Before the companies came we had a lot of natural resources, like honey, rattan, fish, shrimps and wood," he said.

"We had all we wanted. That all went when the companies came. Everything that we depended on went. Deforestaion has led to pollution and health problems. We are all poorer now. I blame the companies and the government, but most of all the government," he continued. He pleaded with the company: "Please resolve this problem and give us back the 4,100 hectares of land. We would die for this if necessary. This is a life or death," he says.

Greenpeace and other groups accuse the giant pulp and palm companies of trashing tens of thousands of hectares of rainforest a year but the companies respond that they are the forest defenders and without them the ecological devastation would be worse. "There has been a rampant escalation of the denuding of the landscape but it is mostly by migrant labour and palm oil growers. Poverty and illegal logging along with migrant labour have caused the deforestation," said April's spokesman, David Goodwin.

"What April does is not deforestation. In establishing acacia plantations in already-disturbed forest areas, it is contributing strongly to reforestation. Last year April planted more than 100 million trees. Deforestation happens because of highly organised illegal logging, slash-and-burn practices by migrant labour, unregulated timber operations. There has been a explosion of palm oil concessions."

The company would not reveal how much rainforest it and its suppliers fell each year but internal papers seen by the Observer show that it planned to deforest 60,000 hectares of rainforest in 2012 but postponed this pending the moratorium. It admits that it has a concession of 20,000 hectares of forest that it has permission to fell and that it takes up to one third of its timber from "mixed tropical hardwood" for its giant pulp and paper mill near Penabaru in Riau.

There are some signs of hope. The heat is now on other large palm oil and paper companies after Asia Pacific Resources International (APP), one of the world's largest pulp and paper companies, was persuaded this year by international and local Indonesian groups to end all rainforest deforestation and to rely solely on its plantations for its wood.

The company, which admits to having felled hundreds of thousands of acres of Sumatran forest in the last 20 years, had been embarrassed and financially hurt when other global firms including Adidas, Kraft, Mattel, Hasbro, Nestlé, Carrefour, Staples and Unilever dropped products made by APP that had been made with rainforest timber.

"We thought that if we adopted national laws to protect the forest that this would be enough. But it clearly was not. We realised something was not right and that we needed a much higher standard. So now we will stop the deforestation, whatever the cost. We are now convinced that the long term benefits will be greater," said Aida Greenbury, APP's sustainability director. "Yes. We got it wrong. We could not have done worse."

This file aerial photograph taken on June 7, 2012 shows lush

tropical forest in Central Kalimantan (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Related Article:

Indonesia Court Ruling Boosts Indigenous Land Rights

Editorial: Court Ruling Will Help Preserve Indonesia’s Forests

More Than a Million Support Petition to Stop Aceh Deforestation