19/03/2023
Banjarmasin – After receiving the Kalpataru award, the highest award in the environmental field for her dedication to the preservation of the endemic animal of South Kalimantan, the proboscis monkey, in 2022, this year Amalia Rezeki received another award for her conservation efforts at the Kick Andy Heroes Award. This award was given on the night of the award, 19 March 2023 in Jakarta and was handed over directly by the Minister for Administrative Reform Abdullah Azwar Anas, accompanied by Cinta Laura Kiehl.
The Kick Andy Heroes Award itself is an event to give awards to individuals, life fighters who have made a positive contribution to people’s lives. They are life heroes from various regions in Indonesia who consistently carry out voluntary social activities, both in the fields of environment, health, education, and community empowerment, including in the economic sector. Getting this award means that Amalia Rezeki is considered to have made her best contribution to environmental preservation, in this case the endemic animals of Bakantan.
Amalia founded the Friends of the Indonesian Proboscis Monkey (SBI) foundation which has the main objective of conserving the decreasing number of proboscis monkeys by purchasing Curiak Island, one of the few islands which are the proboscis monkeys’ natural habitat. The purpose of purchasing the island is to maintain the habitat of the fourteen proboscis monkeys there. For the purchase of the island, Amalia conducted a fundraising by opening a waqf program for benefactors. Amalia and her team at SBI also hold educational programs such as running a conservation school and summer courses to increase public awareness of the proboscis monkey’s scarcity and build awareness to protect it, hold collaborative programs, and organize volunteer activities. Three villages in the Curiak Island conservation area are currently one of the most popular tourist destinations.
In her speech when receiving the award, Amalia conveyed her message, “Never stop doing good, let’s give the best effort not only for your life, but the most important thing is for human life and nature. The tears may run out, but as long as the sweat is still flowing, this is a sign that we must continue to work hard to build this country, by sticking to sustainable development, with a green environment perspective,” he said. (admin)
