Abi Kusno Nachran

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Abi Kusno Nachran (* approx. 1940 in Kalimantan , Indonesia ; † July 24, 2006 ) was an Indonesian activist for the protection of tropical rainforests .

Life

Abi Kusno Nachran grew up among the Dayak people in the rainforest of Central Kalimantan / Borneo. As a young man he left his village to study. After dropping out of his studies, he worked in the administration of the city of Pangkalanbun , where he participated in the widespread corruption there and was also involved in covering illegal logging.

However, after his pilgrimage to Mecca , he began to feel ashamed of his behavior. He traveled across the country and found, among other things, the forest of his childhood destroyed. Nachran began campaigning for the preservation of the rainforests, wrote articles as a journalist against forest destruction and carried out investigations against illegal loggers and traders. He received death threats several times. In November 2001 he succeeded in confiscating ships with 54,000 cubic meters of illegally felled wood.

20 days later, Abi Kusno Nachran was attacked and seriously injured by 20 men in Pangkalanbun with machete knives . When he was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, they thought he was dead and wanted to take him to a morgue. However, by moving a toe on his left foot, Nachran was able to pull the shroud away and provide evidence of its liveliness. He was then taken to a hospital. The Indonesian doctor who treated him had studied in Hamburg and achieved that Abi Kusno Nachran could be operated on there. Nachran sold his property in order to raise the 15,000 euros for the treatment; Donors paid the remainder, and the hospital waived part of the fee. After the operation, Nachran remained badly marked by his injuries.

In the ZDF broadcast Frontal21 on January 14, 2003 Abi Kusno Nachran said about the attempted murder: “The wood market in Indonesia is a dirty business. The timber mafia procures forged documents and bribes the police in order to make the big deal by exporting tropical timber. Because of my research, ships belonging to the timber mafia were confiscated. That was too much for the mafia. They have threatened me for years. This time they wanted me to disappear forever. "

Nachran continued his struggle and became a member of the Indonesian parliament in Jakarta . In 2003 he traveled to Germany again to receive the Dr. Götze Geo Prize (environmental prize from Hamburg students).

At the end of July 2006, Abi Kusno Nachran died in a traffic accident.

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