By: Tantya Shecilia
On Tuesday, May 23, 2016, familiar actors Joe Taslim and Ario Bayu visited Riau. Their visit this time was not for filming or vacationing. They were present in the Rimbang Baling forest area for one day with a mandate pinned by WWF Indonesia to them, namely as WWF warriors. Rimbang Baling is one of the Sumatran Tiger habitats in Riau. Accompanied by WWF Indonesia's Marketing Director, Devy Suradji, they did not want to miss to recognize the ins and outs of community life that coexists with Sumatran tiger habitat. Starting from its local wisdom to how humans foster a harmonious relationship with nature.

Joe Taslim who was lined up to be a tiger warrior admitted that he was very happy when he first visited the Sumatran tiger habitat in Rimbang Baling.

"I was appointed as WWF warrior for about three years, but this is the first time I went directly to the tiger site, using piyau (boat) too. Cool!" Joe's story during a coffee morning with the media at one of the cafes in Pekanbaru on Tuesday (5/24/2016).

Ario Bayu who is an orangutan warrior also did not want to lose telling about the beauty of Rimbang Baling.

"Having stopped by several villages along the Subayang River, gue was very impressed with their local wisdom. There are certain customs and principles that they hold tightly. Those who only live with solar cells, apparently have a deeper understanding of the relationship between humans and nature."
"Even more impressed that they have a tradition of protecting the river, there is a 'lubuk larangan', Ario added.

Devy Suradji revealed that the selection of Joe Taslim and Ario Bayu as warriors was due to their commitment to continue campaigning for the protection of animals and their habitats. To get first-hand experience of tiger habitat conditions in Riau, the two warriors were brought to Rimbang Baling in addition to of course socializing with the surrounding community and seeing the activities carried out by the WWF team in the field.
According to Devy, threats to animals such as animal smuggling are cross-country, cross-regional, and borderless, therefore efforts are needed to suppress these threats.

"This is where the role of warriors comes in, their voices are heard by the public. We need more stories that contain how we force the world to care about animal conservation." Devy added, "Joe and Ario's voice will be heard through their social media, but Joe and Bayu's voice will be heard more if the media also voices this."

Joe, who was born in Palembang, South Sumatra, feels the need to voice the protection of animals and their habitats. His confession, becoming a WWF warrior is purely because he feels called to protect existing animals. According to Joe, everyone should be able to become a warrior by participating in suppressing animal poaching and trade activities. In fact, Joe does not hesitate to refuse if there are clients who offer brands that are contrary to environmentally friendly principles.

"Before I meet with certain clients, for a brand or the like, as a warrior, I would definitely ask, for example, if the ingredients are from palm oil or taken from the forest. For something like that, I won't take it."

Want to go to Tesso Nilo
After being mesmerized by the nature of Rimbang Baling, the two public figures fell in love with visiting Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan Regency, Riau. This area is a lowland forest that is home to Sumatran elephants and tigers but is facing the threat of deforestation due to encroachment.

Before talking to the media, the two warriors had the opportunity to share their stories with 4 members of the WWF-BBKSDA Riau Flying Squad team assigned to Tesso Nilo National Park. Hearing the exciting experience of patrolling with elephants, both Joe and Ario spontaneously expressed the desire to participate in elephant patrols in Tesso Nilo and get to know Sumatran elephants more closely.

"It would be fun to join the elephant patrol, bathe the elephants, get to know their behavior," said Ario. He added, "You are indeed a great team, some of you have 15 years of experience taking care of elephants."

Both were curious about the relationship between the mahouts (nurses) and the elephants.
"What is the relationship like between friends and elephants, is there a strong relationship like what is felt?" asked Joe. Asked Joe.

Erwin Daulay, one of the elephant mahouts who has a dozen years of experience taking care of elephants stated, "There is indeed, sometimes suddenly in the heart there is a feeling, we remember our elephant. Usually we bring him even the smallest food, we approach him, it's part of our affection."