Indonesian Sea Turtle Trader Gets 1-Year Sentence

Widji Zakaria, a leader in the illegal slaughter of sea turtles on Bali, has been found guilty of catching the endangered animals and sentenced to a year in jail, court officials said Thursday.

The Bali businessman, commonly known as Wewe, said he was disappointed by the verdict but had not decided whether he will give up trading in the endangered reptiles.

Environmentalists on the popular Indonesian tourist island welcomed the ruling as a sign that the authorities are finally cracking down on the turtle traders more than two years after the federal government outlawed all hunting and killing of sea turtles.

“This is a good precedent for law enforcement, especially law enforcement for the environment and the sea turtles,” said I Wayan Wiradnyana, coordinator of Animal Conservation for Life on Bali. “We hope that the other sea turtle traders will be tried soon.”

Judge Ngakan Putu Menuh, who handed down the verdict and the sentence Wednesday, ruled that Wewe’s turtle trade was “pure business” and not an observance of Hindu traditions as the defendant had claimed.

The judge said by telephone Thursday that the sentence will be “shock therapy” for others involved in the trade.

Environmentalists say more sea turtles are killed on Bali than anywhere else in the world: as many as 20,000 a year.

Wewe has never denied his involvement in the trade. He owns as many as 13 boats and employs dozens of fishermen to catch turtles all over Indonesia and bring them to Bali.

The turtles are kept in pens for as long as a month and butchered while they are alive to make it easier to extract the meat from the shell.

Scientists say the turtle population has suffered a sharp decline in Indonesia, but Wewe insists that there are still plenty of turtles in the sea.

“People say the green sea turtle is endangered, but my fishermen friends say that there are still a lot of sea turtles in their habitat,” Wewe said after the verdict.

Turtle is a delicacy on Bali and commands a high price at markets and restaurants. While some Balinese on the largely Hindu island say the consumption of turtle meat is a religious tradition, Hindu priests say the ancient scriptures do not call for the killing of turtles.

The hunting of sea turtles has been banned in Indonesia since January 1999, but the law was not enforced until last year when foreign tourists began threatening to boycott Bali if the slaughter continued.

Authorities seized one of Wewe’s boats and its cargo of 92 turtles last October and arrested the boat captain, Maliani, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The police took one turtle as evidence and, having no place to keep the others, left them on the boat. When officers returned the next morning, they found that Wewe had sold the evidence, prompting authorities to arrest him too.

Maliani was convicted last month of hunting and possessing endangered turtles and was sentenced to eight months in jail. He was also fined about $90, but because he cannot afford to pay it, he will serve an additional month in jail.

Wewe was fined about $270 and has the option of serving three extra months in jail instead of paying the fine.

Wewe’s attorney, Mandi Widhiana, said the verdict will be appealed on the grounds that his client had been issued a turtle-hunting license by authorities on the island of Sulawesi.

The prosecutor had asked that Wewe be sentenced to 18 months in jail, and some environmentalists criticized the one-year term as too short. However, a year in jail is a substantial penalty by the standards of Indonesia, where the wealthy and well connected often escape punishment for their crimes.

“The judge dared to punish the defendant,” said Dany Prasetya of Animal Conservation for Life. “This is a good precedent for the legal system, especially on Bali. It shows that the law can be upheld.”