The Indonesian government has threatened to deport Leonardo DiCaprio after the Oscar-winning actor and film-maker made critical statements about the country’s palm oil industry during a visit.
DiCaprio, an environmental campaigner, landed in Indonesia on 26 March from Japan. On Tuesday he posted a photograph to his Instagram highlighting the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s plans with local partners to establish a “mega-fauna sanctuary” in the Leuser rainforest ecosystem, a lowland Sumatran national park where palm oil plantations, mining, logging and other developments are endangering local populations of Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers.
“The expansion of Palm Oil plantations is fragmenting the #forest and cutting off key elephant migratory corridors, making it more difficult for elephant families to find adequate sources of food and water,” wrote DiCaprio in his post.
The actor’s presence in Indonesia does not appear to have gone down well with ministers, who appear to regard the Hollywood star as a troublemaker.
“If there are statements that discredit the government and the interests of Indonesia, he could be deported,” immigration director-general Ronny Sompie told Republika, pointing out that the actor’s tourist visa limited him to “excursions” only. “If he is in Indonesia for other purposes, by engaging in activities that disrupt public order and harm the interests of Indonesia, immigration authorities are ready to deport him,” said the minister.
The only problem with the idea of deporting DiCaprio is that the actor appears to have already left Indonesia of his own accord. While he was still tweeting photographs of the Sumatran rainforest on Thursday, Eco Watch reported that the actor and activist was no longer on local soil.
.@socp_tweets rescues and rehabilitates these amazing creatures. Support them at https://t.co/QBkLh0V81Z pic.twitter.com/HqEoF1vbnV
— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) March 31, 2016
DiCaprio’s foundation, established in 1998, will partner with conservationist Rudi Putra to build a wildlife sanctuary in the 6.5m acre Leuser ecosystem, constructing barriers, training wildlife patrols and rangers and reporting habitat destruction. The actor has been in Asia in recent weeks to promote his role in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning western The Revenant, which debuted in China and Japan last month.
