Jakarta (07/10) - Today Wisnu Wardana, the creator of the #RIPYongki petition on Change.org, forwarded a petition related to the ivory trade to the Head of the Criminal Investigation Agency (Kabareskrim) of the Indonesian Police (POLRI) Commissioner General Anang Iskandar.

The petition with more than 28,000 signatures was handed over as a form of support to Bareskrim POLRI to thoroughly investigate the online trade in products derived from wildlife.
Through his petition, Wisnu, who works as a veterinarian, succeeded in encouraging three online stores namely Bukalapak, Tokopedia, and Lazada Indonesia to revoke posts, block, and terminate business relationships with users who sell products from elephant ivory.

"I am very grateful to all Indonesian people who care and provide support through my petition on Change.org. I also hope that this case is handled thoroughly by Bareskrim, so that no other Yongki-Yongki becomes a victim of poaching and wildlife trade," said Wisnu.

"Change.org facilitated this meeting as an effort to connect petitioners with policy makers, in this case Kabareskrim, as well as a form of support to the Police and the government towards eradicating the ivory trade which is clearly a criminal offense," said Arief Aziz, Campaign Director of Change.org.

According to WWF Indonesia data, elephant deaths due to poaching are still rampant. The number of elephant deaths due to poaching is 208 individuals in the period 1999-2015.

Fathi Hanif, Advocacy Manager of WWF-Indonesia said, "We support the efforts to investigate the perpetrators of the sale of wildlife products, so that they are given the maximum penalty and urge all online businesses in Indonesia to have strict regulations that prevent the sale of illegal products in their outlets.

According to Hanif, WWF together with other conservation activists through the Conservation Policy Working Group reminded the Indonesian Government and the House of Representatives to complete the discussion of the revision of Law No. 5/1990 on Biodiversity Conservation in 2016 as one of the policy instruments to improve the protection of wildlife, especially those threatened with extinction.

In the last three years, WWF-Indonesia data recorded at least 22 cases of elephant deaths in Sumatra and less than half of them led to legal proceedings. Of the cases that reached the courtroom, the sentences imposed only ranged from a matter of months to a year. This condition does not create a deterrent effect in the community, so the revision of Law No.5/1990 is a very crucial thing to do immediately.