By Ali Syarief
One day, I accompanied Ayako Emoto, a Japanese comedian known for her extraordinary adventures—from racing with Komodo dragons to interacting with orangutans—into the heart of Tanjung Puting National Park, specifically the Camp Leakey area in Central Kalimantan.
As we walked through the forest, we arrived at a location where several orangutans were resting high above us in the trees. Everything seemed peaceful. Suddenly, one of them began breaking branches and tearing off leaves, throwing them down at our group below.
That was not the only incident.
On another occasion, an orangutan came down to the ground and started chasing us. Fortunately, orangutans cannot run as fast as Ayako Emoto, and we managed to escape unharmed.
Curious about this aggressive behavior, I asked our guide why the orangutan seemed so hostile toward humans.
The answer was heartbreaking.
The orangutan had once wandered into a palm oil plantation and was driven away by workers armed with machetes. During the encounter, one of its arms was badly injured. Since then, it had shown hostility whenever it encountered humans. It remembered the pain that humans had inflicted upon it.
That experience taught me something important: orangutans are not only highly intelligent animals, but they also possess memory and emotion. They remember kindness, and they remember cruelty.
Another unforgettable experience occurred while I was producing a documentary for Japan’s NHK television network. At that time, I was accompanying Dr. Sakusa, a veterinarian from Tokyo, researching orangutans. We also interviewed Professor Biruté Galdikas, the renowned primatologist who has dedicated much of her life to orangutan conservation in Tanjung Puting.
During the filming, one of my shoes came off and was soon being played with by a young orangutan. Naturally, I reached over to retrieve it.
The next thing I knew, the youngster’s mother slapped my calf with surprising force.
I was startled at first, but then I understood.
To her, I was not the owner of the shoe. I was simply a human taking away an object that her child was enjoying. She reacted exactly as any mother would—protecting her offspring.
Both of these incidents took place during the era of Kosasih, the legendary “King of the Orangutans.” Kosasih was the largest and most dominant orangutan in the Camp Leakey area. His immense size and commanding presence made him a symbol of the forest itself.
After Kosasih passed away, his son Tom inherited much of that dominance. Today, visitors to Tanjung Harapan will become acquainted with the next generation—a magnificent male orangutan named Roger.
From all these experiences, I have come to a simple conclusion.
Who are the humans that orangutans hate?
Not all humans.
Orangutans hate those who hurt them, destroy their forests, take away their homes, and make them suffer.
But toward humans who approach them with respect, without violence and without the intention to harm, orangutans often reveal another side of themselves: curiosity, intelligence, and even a remarkable sense of trust.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson orangutans teach us.
They do not hate humanity.
They simply remember how humanity has treated them.
