Defender of Wildlife
Muslim, 34, used to hunt tigers when he was a teenager. One day, the resident of Karang Ampar village in Central Aceh regency, Aceh, was arrested by the police, charged and sentenced him to 21 days in prison.
Muslim, 34, used to hunt tigers when he was a teenager. One day, the resident of Karang Ampar village in Central Aceh regency, Aceh, was arrested by the police, charged and sentenced him to 21 days in prison. But this is in the past. Today, Muslim is at the forefront of wildlife conservation.
Muslim was born in Karang Ampar village, Ketol district, an isolated village in the interior of Gayo Forest. His parents were coffee and crop farmers. For extra income, his father frequently hunted wild animals like deer and tigers.
As a teen, Muslim often joined his father on hunting trips to the forests of Ketol. Muslim was skilled in setting traps along the tracks the tigers passed. One week after setting the trap, they would return to the location.
The tigers they caught were skinned. Its bones and teeth were also harvested to be sold. The price of a tiger pelt in the 2000s was around Rp 6 million. “In a month, we sometimes caught one tiger,” Muslim said on Tuesday (11/2/2020) in Karang Ampar,
One day, the police caught Muslim while he was on his way to sell the tiger pelt. He was tried. He received a lenient punishment because he was a minor. “I was very scared, I never imagined such a risk (imprisonment),” he recalled.
After graduating senior high school in 2004, Muslim attended the TEDC Polytechnic Bandung in West Java. He found a job at the Indonesian Army intelligence academy in Bogor, where he met and married Noviana, a young woman from Bogor.
In 2013, after his father’s death, Muslim moved back to Karang Ampar with his wife and children. Although they lived in a remote region, he felt life was more tranquil there. He maintained the farm his father left behind.
Elephant encounter
One evening in early 2015 while he was burning garbage behind his house, Muslim was shocked when a wild elephant emerged from the tree line. He was dumbstruck and his legs froze. He withdrew slowly back into the house to tell his mother.
“Ine (mother), there’s abang kul behind the house,” said Muslim, asking his mother to flee. In the Gayo language, abang kul means “big brother” and is a term of respect for elephants.
The forest bordering Karang Ampar is an elephant habitat. It takes an hour to reach Karang Ampar from the Bireuen-Takengon national highway. During the armed conflict in Aceh, the people of Karang Ampar fled to Ronga-Ronga in Bener Meriah regency
When Muslim was a child, elephants were rarely seen in the village; once in five years at most. But over the last 10 years, the protected species had often intruded onto the villagers’ farms and settlements. They uprooted the crops and damaged houses, and the villagers lived in fear.
He called on the youths in Karang Ampar and neighboring Bergang village to drive back elephants.
Muslim believed that the people couldn’t live in peace and make a living if the elephants kept encroaching on the village. He called on the youths in Karang Ampar and neighboring Bergang village to drive back elephants. “We have to protect the village. If abang kul comes here, we’ll also be hurt. If we wait for officers from the government, they get here only after (our) plants have been devoured,” Muslim told the other youths.
A youth group was formed to guard the village from the wildlife. Not everyone supported Muslim’s idea. While some regarded the elephants as raiders, several villagers scorned him by calling Muslim “mahout”.
On one occasion, a rice farmer visited Muslim’s house with a machete. The farmer had come to ask Muslim to rid his fields of elephants. From then on, the villagers notified him whenever an elephant entered a farm.
“I’m not a ‘mahout’, but I just stayed silent. I only followed their request to get rid of the elephants,” said Muslim. In fact, the aim of the youth group was to protect the village from the elephants so they could live in peace.
The police summoned the members of the youth group for questioning.
In July 2017, a tragic incident for conservation occurred in the village. A wild male elephant was found dead, its tusks removed. The elephant had been shot with an AK-56 assault rifle. All eyes turned to Karang Ampar. The police summoned the members of the youth group for questioning.
Following the event, the group dispersed for fear of being implicated in the death of elephants. Meanwhile, Muslim saw it as an opportunity to strengthen the village and its efforts to protect wildlife, with many parties showing concern over Karang Ampar.
With the support of the Aceh branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the group was reinforced and named the Karang Ampar-Bergang Flora-Fauna Safeguarding Team (TPFF). Muslim was appointed as its coordinator, and the TPFF was officiated with a letter from the Karang Ampar village head.
With the support of the WWF and the village head, the TPFF was better able to conduct its activities. The cost of herding the elephants was subsidized by the WWF and the village funds. But the TPFF members are not paid. They are volunteers who work in the best interests of the village and wildlife.
At the end of 2019, Muslim was invited to speak at the Paris Peace Forum in France. He talked about the forests of Karang Ampar, the wild elephants and the TPFF’s activity. “The global community expressed appreciation and gratitude to the TPFF for protecting the elephants,” said Muslim.
In the past, he was annoyed at being scorned as a “mahout”. At the forum, Muslim was simply happy. “People abroad are prepared to pay a lot [of money] to watch wild elephants, while we live alongside them (elephants),” he said.
The international delegates at the forum sent a message to the villagers of Karang Ampar and Bergang to keep protecting the forest and the elephants. Muslim has finally made peace with his past. He is now a protector of wildlife.
Muslim
Born: Karang Ampar, Central Aceh, 12 Dec. 1986
Wife: Noviana
Children: Haikal Bakti Arigayo, Fatia Aisya Azzahra, Putri Ananda Salsabila
Education:
- TEDC Polytechnic, Bandung
- Timang Gajah senior high school, Bener Meriah
- Ronga-Ronga junior high school, Bener Meriah
- Karang Ampar primary school, Central Aceh
Occupation: Farmer
Activity: Coordinator, Karang Ampar-Bergang Flora-Fauna Safeguarding Team