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Debunking deforestation

5 0
07.01.2025

Indonesia’s new president, former disgraced general Prabowo Subianto, is making an awkward discovery: gaining respect in the international community as head of a nation of 280 million civilians is not the same as ordering a special squad to intimidate.

You can’t force the masses to grow more food, work smarter and change habits – then expect no blow-back from the rest of the world if your policies endanger all.

Like Donald Trump promoting hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as unverified COVID-19 cures, Prabowo suffers from the dictator’s delusion – that a ballot-box win (58%) turns a politician into a seer refuting established science.

At the end of December, he reportedly told delegates to a national development congress in Jakarta that more jungle should be cleared for palm oil plantations. The address was broadcast:

“We don’t need to be afraid of endangering — what’s it called — deforestation, right?

“Oil palms are trees, right? They have leaves, right? They produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide. So why are we being accused (of deforestation)? Those things they say (about deforestation) don’t make any sense.”

Although there have been no threats against the existing plantations (how do foreign powers seize palms?), Prabowo has sprayed the zone with paranoia. His favourite colour is khaki, not green.

He’s ordered the military, the police and regional officials “to enhance security measures around palm oil plantations throughout Indonesia” because he reckons Indonesia’s palm oil commodities........

© Pearls and Irritations