24/02/2005 – Religious
leaders and conservationists have taken
an unprecedented step by coming together
to secure a more positive future for Bali's
sea turtles.
Although green turtles have long played
a significant, symbolic role in traditional
Indonesian Hindu rituals and ceremonies,
religious leaders have asked Balinese Hindus
to stop using turtle meat in religious ceremonies
until such time as the turtle population
was deemed stable by the government.
WWF Indonesia’s Marine Turtle campaign
leader, Ida Bagus Windia Adnyana, secured
the participation of the high priests for
a meeting which included 29 influential
Hindu high priests from East Java, Bali
and Lombok.
“This pesamuhan (gathering) is the first
of its kind," said I Made Artha, chairman
of the Bali Parisadha. "Never before
has such a large gathering of respected
high priests been called to discuss the
issue of turtle conservation.”
In recent decades, Bali has become the
centre of Indonesia’s illegal turtle trade.
It's thought that between 500 and 1,000
turtles are still illegally imported into
the island each month. By the late 11000s,
over 20,000 sea turtles were being killed
per year. This is not only reducing the
turtle population, but also creating ecological
strains in numerous sea turtle habitats
around the country, such as in Sulawesi
and Kalimantan.
Poachers and traders have saturated the
market for turtles claiming that turtle
meat is an essential part of Balinese Hindu
sacrificial rituals. In turn, local conservation
NGOs and law enforcement agencies have been
seen as undermining the island’s cultural
and religious heritage by trying to make
the turtle trade more sustainable.
“Only the biggest sacrificial rituals require
turtle meat. By the biggest, I mean rituals
aimed at cleansing the island or the world,
certainly not rituals or offerings at the
family level," stressed the chairman
of the Sabha Pandita (Council of High Priests)
of the Indonesia Parisadha, Ida Pedanda
Sebali Tianyar Arimbawa.
"In this context, Hindu rituals only
need between 100 and 200 turtles per year.”
With the realization of the scale of the
crisis facing sea turtles, the high priests
issued a seven-point recommendation.
One high priest, Ida Pedanda Gde Bang Buruan
Manuaba, suggested the use of turtle shaped
rice cakes or pictures of turtles as a substitute
for turtle meat. Alternatively, a live turtle
could be used for the purposes of the ritual
and then released back into the wild.
“We will present the recommendation at
the next Mahasabha (grand convention) of
all the country’s Parisadha in March 2005
in Lampung. There is a good possibility
that the Mahasabha will agree to adopt the
recommendation as a Bhisama (religious decree),”
stated Ida Pedanda Sebali Tanyar Arimbawa.
