The Five Freedoms Ignored:
Santika
Cruelty exposed
This photo is representative of the standard industrial farming practices permitted in the company’s supply chain.Photo: Stefano Belacchi / Animal Welfare Observatory / We Animals
But Still Chooses to Look Away.
Johanes Widjaja is the President Director of Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts, one of the most influential names in the Indonesian hospitality industry. With that power comes responsibility — not just to guests, but to the living beings who suffer every single day to keep Santika’s supply chain running.
And Johanes Widjaja knows.
Knows that animals in Santika’s supply chain are trapped in tiny cages, mutilated without pain relief, or left to die slowly and in agony — all so the company can shave a few cents off the cost of a meal. Knows that the same cruel systems deemed unacceptable in many parts of the world are still being used where oversight is weakest and voices are easiest to ignore. Knows that many competitors have moved forward, leaving Santika behind, clinging to practices the public no longer tolerates.
While Santika claims to care about animal welfare, its silence and inaction tell a different story. The Five Freedoms — the basic standards that every animal should be guaranteed — are still denied to millions of animals in Santika’s supply chain.
What Johanes Widjaja decides matters.
A single executive decision could end some of the worst suffering in industrial farming — suffering that’s been documented, condemned, and condemned again. But instead of action, we get empty statements. Instead of change, we get delay. Instead of leadership, we get complicity.
This isn’t about perfection.
It’s about decency.
And decency is a choice.
It’s time for Johanes Widjaja to make the right one.
Behind the eggs served by Santika Indonesia Hotels and Resorts lies a grim reality of suffering.
Hens are crammed into tiny, barren battery cages so restrictive that the birds can’t spread their wings, turn around, or exhibit any of their natural behaviors. These sentient animals are reduced to mere egg-laying machines, enduring a lifetime of misery standing on wire floors that can cut into their feet and leave their bodies bruised and featherless. Packed so tightly, hens often injure each other out of stress and frustration.
Even the basics of life are denied. With no access to dust bathing, perches, or fresh air, these intelligent and curious animals are trapped in a world devoid of stimulation and comfort.
The stress and overcrowding can lead to severe health issues, including brittle bones that fracture easily and uterine prolapse from the relentless egg production. Many hens die in their cages, their decomposing bodies left among the living until workers remove them. In this system, nearly every one of the Five Freedoms is breached: hens are denied freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury, and disease, freedom to express normal behavior, and freedom from fear and distress.
Yet Santika permits its suppliers to continue using these barbaric systems.
Santika has the power and responsibility to stop permitting these extreme cruelties in its supply chain. The public expects better, and animals deserve to live free from this egregious and unnecessary suffering.
It’s time for Santika to do what many other leading hotel chains in Indonesia have already done and put policies in place that ensure the Five Freedoms for animals in its supply chain.
