Loss of a Leader

Bapak Leo Saleo
Friend and Conservation Warrior

The photo above was taken at the Grand Launch of the Kalabia Education Program in August 2008 - Pak Leo was performing with a musical group from his village of Yensawai that worked hard to preserve traditional music and culture.  He was a proud advocate of the Kalabia program, and education in general.

We've had some terrible and shocking news from the field on March 1, 2010... a valued member of our field staff, Pak Leo, was killed while working toward the conservation of the area which he loved.  Pak Leo, native to Raja Ampat, was the leader of the sub-area Dayan of our Dampier Strait MPA team (photo of him with part of his patrol team at the Dayan Post in June 2009 below).  Pak Leo was also the head negotiator of the village senate council and a tenure land owner in the area (as part of the first tribe to occupy the land).  There was illegal logging going on in the area, and Pak Leo was very much against foreign people and companies coming in and exploiting his tribe/family's resources and future for their own short-term gain.  He was called to a meeting under flag of truce to discuss a solution to the problem, and when he arrived with his brother, an ambush was waiting for them.  In cold-blood, the savages chopped at Pak Leo with a machete and killed him.  The illegal loggers had set him up.  And the true tragedy is that the police did nothing about it - because the people involved in the illegal logging are so powerful they have the chief of police in their pocket and were able to distort and quell the investigation.

The entire staff went to the funeral together in his village of Yensawai, where we found an entire village in shock and reeling from this great tragedy.  It was the most intense funeral I have ever attended - the mourners were many... his loss is such a tragedy in so many respects.  Pak Leo leaves behind 7 children, the youngest, a mere 2 years old, will never truly know her daddy.  But I am sure that the memory of pak Leo will live on, and the story of this conservation hero will be told for generations to come.

Myself and the Kalabia team were the last of our staff to spend time with pak Leo - we had a 3-day training based at his post on the island three days before he was murdered.  We feel privileged to have had this last time with him, learning more about the team's activities in the area, enjoying his charismatic company, as well as appreciating the impecable dicipline of the team, and how efficiently and orderly things were run at his post.  We can hope that others will be motivated by his initiatives, take up the cause, and continue to work for conservation in his name, and with the same passion and spirit shown by this great man.  Pak Leo was such an inspiration, and a true local conservation leader - he will be greatly missed.