Riding on the wave of South Korea’s legislation to ban the consumption of dog meat this year, the World Dog Alliance visited Indonesia for the first time in late August. The purpose of this trip was to understand the latest situation in Indonesia and to find suitable partners to accelerate the legislation to ban the consumption of dogs and cats in Indonesia. WDA Development Director Ernest Au met with (1) President-elect Prabowo's political party, (2) the party led by current President Joko Widodo’s son Kaesang, and (3) the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. Other meeting parties included Indonesian senators and the fourth largest political party in Indonesia.
WDA introduced the developments in South Korea and had in-depth discussions with them on the issue of legislation to ban the consumption of dogs and cats, which received positive responses. This trip has strengthened our belief in the possibility of reaching a public consensus to ban dog and cat meat from all parts of Indonesia in the future.
Gerindra
The Great Indonesia Movement Party is headed by President-elect Prabowo. It is the third largest party in Indonesia (78 seats in Parliament) and is a member of the cabinet coalition headed by President Joko Widodo.
Prabowo showed his love for animals in the presidential election. His adopted stray cat Bobby became a bridge to connect with young voters during the campaign, which shows that the younger generation in Indonesia is increasingly accepting pets, even though Indonesian Muslims generally do not like dogs. In addition, Prabowo's campaign team made good use of social media to create a lively image for him, which is especially important for Indonesian voters, more than half of whom are millennials or Generation Z.
Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI)
WDA also met with the Indonesian Solidarity Party PSI. The chairman of PSI is Kaesang, the youngest son of the current President Joko Widodo. WDA met with Francine, a Jakarta city councilor and the animal protection spokesperson of PSI. Francine is the first politician in Indonesia to be elected on the election platform of animal protection and is good at using social media to mobilize and promote issues. She is a lawyer and has adopted 27 cats at home. PSI provides legal aid to dog owners in Indonesia. They recently sued a dog killer and successfully obtained a conviction for the first time.
Francine is looking forward to working with the WDA to play a role in the issue of banning the consumption of dog and cat meat, and will be a partner with the World Dog Federation who shares the same ideals.
Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture
WDA visited the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and was received by the Director of Veterinary Public Health and its Specialist team.
The Ministry of Agriculture is currently drafting a national animal protection bill and plans to include a special project to protect dogs and cats. On the issue of legislating to ban the consumption of dog meat, the Ministry of Agriculture believes that it should be done gradually and advocates stopping the dog meat business first. The Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that public health and pet protection can be the entry points for promoting the ban on the consumption of dog meat, and suggested that WDA conduct a statistical survey as the basis for promoting legislation. At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture will hold focus groups/online seminars, etc., and welcomes WDA to arrange speakers to participate and share foreign experiences.
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