Farmers the most defenseless in forest fires<\/p>\n
By Pandaya<\/p>\n
TANI BAKTI VILLAGE, East Kalimantan: Life is harsh for Appe
\nSaid, his wife and three children even though they have spent
\nalmost four years in this \"promise land.\"<\/p>\n
The vast and breathtaking hilly landscape surrounding their
\nhomes with the grass swaying in the breeze is probably the only
\nthing the hundreds of families living here can take for granted.<\/p>\n
Giant scorched tree stumps left by the legendary 1982 fires
\nthat destroyed three million hectares of forest dot the seemingly
\nendless landscape.<\/p>\n
\"We're more miserable now than ever. Nobody has gone on haj
\npilgrimage (to Mecca) since we were resettled here,\" says Appe's
\nwife, Asriana, undeterred by the watching officials.<\/p>\n
Appe, who is of the well-known hot blooded Bugis ethnic group,
\nsays he is ashamed to return to his home village in South
\nSulawesi. But life in this resettlement site is not as rosy as
\nofficials promised.<\/p>\n
\"People in my ancestral village now have decent homes, radios
\nand all that. If I return, I will have to start all over again,\"
\nhe says, staring at his six-months pregnant wife.<\/p>\n
In the resettlement village located about three kilometers
\nfrom the Balikpapan-Samarinda highway, they live in a humble
\nwooden house the government supplied.<\/p>\n
The two-hectare plot of agricultural land, also given free to
\nthem, is so arid they cannot cultivate it in the dry season. Then
\nit becomes necessary for them to work in construction and
\nforestry projects many miles away from home.<\/p>\n
The village does have an elementary school, but children lucky
\nenough to have the privilege of attending junior secondary school
\nhave to walk at least five kilometers to the nearest one.<\/p>\n
Water is scarce as the dam built for them by the government is
\ndry and residents have to spend hours fetching water from wells.<\/p>\n
The Appes are just one of some 500 families that were
\nresettled here after being evicted several years ago from their
\nland which the local government declared part of the 63,000
\nhectares of the Bukit Soeharto reserve.<\/p>\n
There are hundreds of other farming families living in Bukit
\nSoeharto to be resettled elsewhere under the state-sponsored
\ntransmigration program to \"secure\" the national park extremely
\nprone to fire.<\/p>\n
Farmers have been made the biggest villains in the forest
\nfires that commonly occur in the dry season in many parts of the
\nKalimantan jungles.<\/p>\n
The eviction process is apparently not that easy because many
\noccupants fiercely cling to their demand for a higher
\ncompensation than the government is offering.<\/p>\n
But the government has been intensifying the pressure. \"We
\nhave been denied bank credits for farming because officials say
\nthe land we have occupied since the 1960s belongs to the state,\"
\nsaid Suparlan, a neighborhood unit chief in a Bukit Suharto
\nvillage.<\/p>\n
Farmers practicing slash-and-burn techniques have been the
\nprime scapegoats in this year's current fires which so far has
\ndestroyed thousands of hectares of forest across Kalimantan,
\nleaving untold damage in financial and, notably, ecological
\nterms.<\/p>\n
People have to clear land by burning the bushes to reduce the
\nlevel of soil acidity to allow crops to grow.<\/p>\n
In their defense, farmers argue that the technique has been
\nsafely practiced generation after generation and only in the past
\ndecade or so have they been blamed for forest fires.<\/p>\n
The indigenous Dayak people, ethnics in the Kalimantan
\nhinterland, for instance, are well-known for their traditional
\nslash-and-burn farming method. They have practiced this method
\nfor generations without affecting the ecological balance. They
\nconsider themselves as part of the nature they ought to protect.<\/p>\n
The division of what was once the indigenous' traditional
\nproperty into concessionaire forests has not only generated
\nconfusion for the indigenous people, but also heightened tension
\nbetween them, the businessmen and officials.<\/p>\n
The recent fires that turned into a blaming game was a case in
\npoint.<\/p>\n
Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo says nomadic
\nfarmers burnt 1.5 million hectares of forest on various islands,
\n\"settled\" farmers 2.8 million hectares, while government-owned
\nindustrial estates \"only\" 17,000 hectares. Fires started by
\nplantation and reforestation activities destroyed about 36,000
\nhectares.<\/p>\n
Farmers point the finger at businessmen from the towns for
\nmost of the fires.<\/p>\n
Suparlan, a Banjar ethnic who has lived near Bukit Suharto for
\nmore than three decades, said forest fires became commonplace
\nafter concessionaire holders moved in during the 1970s and
\ndisturbed the ecological balance of the forests.<\/p>\n
\"A virgin forest is unlikely to catch fire because the level
\nof humidity is very high,\" he said, pointing out that fires
\nusually raze \"secondary\" forests and bushes which were once a
\njungle.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the Indonesian Foresters Community (MPI),
\na non-governmental organization under timber tycoon Bob
\n(Muhammad) Hasan, sponsored a press trip for Jakarta-based
\njournalists to East Kalimantan where he reportedly controls many
\nthousands of hectares of forests.<\/p>\n
The MPI mission was vague but clear enough: to convince
\neveryone that forest concession holders were not responsible for
\nthe fires.<\/p>\n
MPI officials led the newsmen to burned areas in Sungai Wain
\nreserve forest and Bukit Soeharto national parks where, as if
\norchestrated, local forest authorities were unanimous in their
\nsupport of the concessionaire's insistence that fires were
\nstarted by irresponsible farmers.<\/p>\n
Journalists were also shown places where low-grade coal was
\nsmoldering underground, a natural cause of fire which isn't
\ndoused by downpours and which is commonly found in Bukit Soeharto
\nand its surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
Gozali Abas of the Mahakam Hilir forestry office, who
\nsupervises a dozen poorly equipped forest rangers in securing
\nBukit Soeharto, says there are 47 places in the reserve where
\ncoal smolders year-round.<\/p>\n
\"The government has made no special effort to put out the
\nembers,\" he says.<\/p>",
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