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null Asia Pulp & Paper and PT Arara Abadi Supports Preservation of ‘Sakai’ Tribal Culture in Riau

The Preservation of ‘Sakai’ Tribal Culture in Riau

Riau, 19 January 2016 –In an effort to preserve the culture and tradition of the Sakai tribe in Riau province, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and its wood supplier, PT Arara Abadi (Arara) has built five traditional Sakai houses for communal purposes.  The traditional houses were built in collaboration with the Bengkalis District government and the Sakai community.

The Sakai is an indigenous tribe of Riau province with members spread across several districts. The largest Sakai community resides in the village of Kesumbo Ampai Village, Mandau district, where the community center was built.

Studies and social mappingsshow that the majority of Sakai tribes people live in remote areas, far from technology, modernization and access to education. It was for these reasons that APP and Arara decided to forge closer ties to the Sakai tribal communities, especially in support of educational development and preservation of traditional Sakai culture.

In addition to building the traditional houses, APP and Arara have also provided undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships for Sakai youths. To date, the scholarship program has seen 32 people graduated with bachelor’s degrees and 3 with postgraduate degrees. All graduates have been urged to return to their communities in order to help educate the next generation of Sakai youth.

“PT Arara Abadi is a timber company that operates in the area adjacent to where the Sakai community live. Thus, we hope to be able to improve their lives by providing them with job opportunities,” says Appathurai Rajasingham, Chief Operating Officer of Riau Arara. “We are working with the Sakai Bathin Delapan and Lima Jernih Foundation to develop 300 hectares of rubber trees in the PT Arara Abadi concession. We’re also giving the Sakai community the freedom to grow crops within our concession, such as menggalo yam, to be one of their food sources”.

“The Sakai community center symbolizes the wealth of our heritage. It will be a center for knowledge sharing, for sharpening our skills in traditional Sakai arts and crafts, and also for strengthening relations among members of our tribe,” says Sakai tribal community leader, M. Yatim. “We hope the companies can continue to play a role in preserving our culture, thus forging a lasting bond with our local communities.”

“Traditional cultural values are important aspects of our national heritage, which we can be proud of internationally and the Sakai Traditional House is one of them,” says APP Director, Hasanuddin The.“The rising deforestation rate in Indonesia is of major concern to us, which is why we hope that the Sakai community center can serve as a venue to educate and raise awareness among community members on the importance of conservation and in leading a sustainable lifestyle”.

This initiative is expected to be of mutual benefit for all parties, and ultimatelystrengthen ties between APP, Arara and the Sakai tribal communities.

For more information, please contact:
Randy Salim, Head of Communications – APP Indonesia
T: (62) 813-1122-3659, E: [email protected]

 

About Asia Pulp & Paper

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is a trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Indonesia and China. APP is responsible for delivering quality products to meet the growing global demand for tissue, packaging and paper. On any given day, our products find their way into the hands of consumers in various branded forms all over the world.

Started in 1972 with Tjiwi Kimia producing caustic soda, we now run operations across Indonesia and China with an annual combined pulp, paper, packaging product and converting capacity of over 20 million tons per annum. Today, APP markets its products in more than 120 countries across six continents.

Over the years, we have expanded our operations significantly through the acquisition and expansion of several of our pulp and paper mills. It’s our commitment to customer satisfaction that enables us to grow our share in paper sales worldwide and to broaden our presence through offices in many countries. We believe ‘tradition and modernity go hand in hand’ which means we value long term relationships as part of our Eastern traditions, while also embracing modern values of innovation and efficiency.

Maintaining the integrity of our supply chain is crucial to APP’s operations.  APP launched its Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020 in June 2012 and announced its Forest Conservation Policy in February 2013, both designed to further improve APP’s environmental performance, biodiversity conservation, and protection of community rights. Key objectives of the Roadmap are to ensure that APP pulpwood suppliers protect areas of High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS), manage peatlands responsibly, and are 100% Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) certified by 2020.

In April 2014, APP launched its commitment to support the protection and restoration of one million hectares of forest in Indonesia. To date, APP and its suppliers have allocated approximately 600,000 hectares for conservation within its suppliers’ concessions and for ecosystem restoration.

Learn more about APP’s path to operational excellence by reading our Sustainability Reports and Forest Conservation Policy on: www.asiapulppaper.com.

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