Leonardo DiCaprio may possibly be banned from returning to Indonesia in the future after an immigration official said on Saturday his criticisms that palm oil plantations are destroying the country’s rainforests, endangering the wildlife in the process, caused anger.
The actor made a one-day visit to protected Mount Leuser National Park in Northern Sumatra and uploaded photographs on his Instagram account, talking about his concerns over species whose habitats and lives are threatened:
Heru Santoso, the spokesman for the Directorate General for Immigration at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, was not happy that the Oscar winner used his visit to shame the palm oil industry and the Indonesian government.
“We support his concern to save the Leuser ecosystem,” Santoso said. “But we can blacklist him from returning to Indonesia at any time if he keeps posting incitement or provocative statements in his social media.”
Slash-and-burn practices destroy huge areas of forestation in Indonesia every single year during the dry season, creating haze that pollutes neighbouring countries as well as causing massive economic losses and increasing Indonesia’s carbon dioxide emissions. The fires are often caused to clear the land for agriculture, including palm oil plantations.
Although none have done so yet, Santoso has said that organisations and companies that have objected to DiCaprio’s comments can request that the immigration authorities ban him from re-entering Indonesia.
He went on to say that DiCaprio entered and left Indonesia legally with an official visa and full immigration documentation. The actor, along with his entourage, arrived on a private jet at Kualanamu Airport on the island of Sumatra on the 26th of March and the group took a helicopter to the protected park and left a day later.
Leo isn’t the only celebrity to have criticised and angered Indonesia’s government about their treatment of the environment.
Harrison Ford, another famous actor known for his roles in Indiana Jones and Star Wars, has visited several national parks in his time and caused a stir by interviewing activist, businesspeople and the government.
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