H.S Dillon champions the plight of farmers<\/p>\n
By Sylvia Gratia M. Nirang<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Harbrinderjit Singh Dillon always speaks his
\nmind when talking about human rights, farmers and the country's
\nnational unity.<\/p>\n
He is widely known as a government critic. His criticisms
\nrange from agricultural policies to political and social
\nproblems. He is now the executive director of the Center for
\nAgriculture Policy Studies (CAPS), a member of the National
\nCommission on Human Rights and a member of the state-sponsored
\nCommunication Forum for National Unity (Bakom PKB).<\/p>\n
Dillon often expresses his concern for the development of the
\nagricultural sector, which he says should be a top priority
\nbecause it is an important step in leading the country out of its
\neconomic troubles.<\/p>\n
"A strong agricultural sector would not only help the country
\ncope with the unemployment problem but would also encourage
\nfarming activities to produce export-oriented commodities.<\/p>\n
"We cannot build a strong nation if we cannot improve the
\nlives of people in rural areas. To improve their lives we have to
\ndevelop the agroindustry, because most of them work in the
\nagriculture sector," Dillon told The Jakarta Post in an interview
\nin his CAPS office last week.<\/p>\n
Born in Medan on April 23, 1945, Dillon is the youngest child
\nof a business family. His father, Partap Singh, was a leader of
\nthe Sikh community in Medan.<\/p>\n
Dillon rebelled from the traditional family path of becoming a
\nbusinessman or a doctor, and studied agriculture. He became
\ntotally involved in the sector, he explained, after seeing
\nfarmers work themselves into the ground just to enrich the
\nplantation owners.<\/p>\n
"When I was young my father often took us outside to Parapat
\n(a plantation town near Medan) or to other places. And we all saw
\nthese people working in their black shirts, laboring in the
\nplantation. At that time I always wondered who they were and why
\nthey worked so hard.<\/p>\n
"And when I grew up I slowly began to realize that they must
\nbe the underclass. So I decided then that I would study
\nagriculture even though my father wanted me to be a doctor like
\nmy elder brothers.<\/p>\n
"I decided that I had to study hard so I could improve the
\nlife of those plantation laborers," he said.<\/p>\n
In 1964 he studied agriculture and social economics at the
\nstate-run North Sumatra University (USU) in Medan. He took 10
\nyears to finish his studies, because, he explained, for three
\nyears in the mid 1960s he was involved in a student movement.<\/p>\n
After graduating from USU, he started working as a researcher
\nin the Ministry of Agriculture's agroeconomic survey program. He
\nthen got a scholarship from the Agriculture Development Council
\nto study at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.<\/p>\n
In 1983 he earned his PhD in agriculture economics, with a
\ndissertation titled Growth with Equity: the Case of North Sumatra
\nSmallholder Development Project.<\/p>\n
The project, which was prompted by the hardships faced by
\nNorth Sumatra's plantation laborers, then became the foundation
\nof smallholder estates, in which the government or private
\ncompanies shared their plantation areas with the farmers.<\/p>\n
He returned to Indonesia in 1983 and worked on the Directorate
\nGeneral of Plantation's special team for assistance projects.<\/p>\n
He was then promoted to a director of the Ministry of
\nAgriculture's Commodity Analysis Division and then became an
\nadviser for commodity trade and development to the minister of
\nagriculture.<\/p>\n
In 1996 he left the ministry, after realizing his principle of
\nempowering farmers was not in line with his colleagues in the
\nagriculture ministry.<\/p>\n
"I joined the government because at that time I believed that
\nthe government was fighting for the farmers. I have now realized
\nthat it is not. There still are good people but they are a
\nminority. The dominating paradigm in the state is self-serving
\nofficials. They are not civil servants, they are uncivil
\nmasters."<\/p>\n
That was the beginning of his new calling as a government
\ncritic. He concentrated mainly on pointing out the failures of
\nthe agriculture policies. And later founded the CAPS.<\/p>\n
Married to Drupadi Harnopidjati, a lecturer of medicine at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, Dillon is the father of three sons:
\nHaryasetyaka Singh Dillon, 19, Mahawira Singh Dillon, 14, and
\nMahareksha Singh Dillon, 13.<\/p>\n
Drupadi's father was the rector of USU when Dillon studied at
\nthe university.<\/p>\n
Dillon was very close with the rector. The young couple's
\nrelationship began when Drupadi's father asked Dillon to pick up
\nhis daughter from the airport when she returned home for her
\nholidays from study in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
At first, their relationship was opposed by Drupadi's mother
\nand Dillon's father, partly because of their different cultures
\nand religions. Dillon is a Sikh while Drupadi is a Muslim.<\/p>\n
"But we finally managed to settle the problems, as we believed
\nthat if we were together we would both be able to realize our
\npotentials higher than if we were separated or married other
\npeople," he said.<\/p>\n
They both decided to stick with their own religions.<\/p>\n
"That's why I am very disappointed with the marriage law which
\ndiscourage inter-religious marriages.<\/p>\n
"Inter-religious marriages help us maintain our national
\nunity, because families get to know other religions better and
\nwhen you get to know other religions, you can start to appreciate
\nthem more."<\/p>\n
Dillon is increasingly popular not only as an agriculture
\nanalyst, but also as a political and social analyst since the
\neconomic and political turmoil hit the country.<\/p>\n
His sharp criticisms of the government regarding the abuse of
\nhuman rights led to him being elected a member of the National
\nCommission on Human Rights in December last year.<\/p>\n
"I was very happy that they elected me ... because it provides
\nme a much stronger platform to fight for the economic, social and
\ncultural rights of farmers and rural inhabitants," he said.<\/p>\n
Following are further excerpts of the interview with Dillon:<\/p>\n
Question: Many people wonder why you, an Indonesian of Indian
\ndescent, have become a government critic, instead of jumping into
\nbusiness like many people of foreign descent do.<\/p>\n
Answer: This is also one of the motives for my wanting to join
\nthe government, to illustrate by example that it is not true that
\npeople of foreign origin are only concerned with themselves, or
\nonly concerned with pecuniary money-making motives.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you think about the current state of our national
\nunity?<\/p>\n
A: I have always been very interested in national unity because
\nfrom very early on I became cognizant on the fact that our
\nfounding fathers have been very wise, very aware, of the
\nmultiethnic, multiracial, multireligious nature of our society
\nand that is why they framed our constitution in such a manner.<\/p>\n
I believe then and I still do that you can not take the
\nnational unity for granted in a community such as ours ... You
\nhave to keep on working. From time to time you have to renew your
\ncommitment and you have to go back to the initial vision of the
\ncommunity. You have to forge the nation out of these different
\nethnic groups, different religions and all of that. And you have
\nto revitalize this vision.<\/p>\n
Being a Sikh I think has helped me accentuate that, because
\nSikhs are very few, I don't think there are more than 3,000 Sikhs
\nall over Indonesia. They are too small to be called a minority.
\nAnd then you feel that you are different, and if there is
\ndiscrimination then you realize that. And I always refuse to
\naccept discrimination.<\/p>\n
So I urge all Indonesians from all ethnic backgrounds to bury
\ntheir racist sentiments because this is the best time to build
\nour country as our founding fathers intended it to be.<\/p>\n
You may hate criminals, be they ethnic Chinese, Batak,
\nJavanese or any other ethnicity, but please never hate people
\nbecause their culture is different than yours.<\/p>\n
Q: During the country's worst ever economic crisis, the
\ngovernment seems to have just started to realize that
\nagroindustry could be a leading sector to lift us out of the
\ncrisis. Problems in the agriculture sector are immense and
\nrequire immediate action. What policies should be introduced to
\nenhance agricultural productivity?<\/p>\n
A: The crisis has been a logical consequence of bad policies all
\nthese years, and has exposed all the faults in our food and
\nagriculture system. Not only is our reliance on food imports very
\nhigh but, now, there might be 60 million people living under the
\npoverty line compared to less than 20 million prior to July 1997.<\/p>\n
The midterm challenges confronting Indonesians are:<\/p>\n
* to raise production of all food commodities and products to
\nsave foreign exchange through reduction of imports,<\/p>\n
* to enhance productivity and exports of agriculture and
\nforestry commodities to generate badly needed foreign exchange,
\nand<\/p>\n
* to design institutional and technological breakthroughs so
\nthat policies to achieve the objectives would secure the food
\nneeds of the poorest households during the transition, and
\nalleviate rural poverty while preserving the environment in the
\nmedium term. However, much more pressing is needed to continue
\nproviding adequate food at affordable prices to the general
\npublic.<\/p>\n
Q: Many believe that you are a strong candidate to fill the
\nminister of agriculture's position in the new cabinet, regardless
\nof which parties win. What do you think about that?<\/p>\n
A: Really? For me if I can serve my people as a government
\nofficial that's fine. But if I could serve them better just being
\nas I am now, by being an outspoken person, then I would be
\nhappier.<\/p>",
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