Indigenous people get a chance to talk<\/p>\n
By Samsudin Berlian<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Following the collapse of Soeharto's
\nauthoritarian regime, various social groups across the country
\nhave publicly voiced their grievances, criticism and hopes.<\/p>\n
At the latest count, 58 new political parties have been set
\nup, not just in a bid for political power but to tell people and
\nthe elite about their aspirations.<\/p>\n
But one group -- or more correctly hundreds of small groups
\nusually lumped together in the fluid term \"indigenous people\" --
\nseemed to have remained in obscurity. Until last week that is
\nwhen the United Nations (UN) gave them a forum to voice their
\nviews on their own situation.<\/p>\n
The UN Development Program (UNDP) and UNESCO jointly organized
\na one-day workshop on indigenous people, themed \"Partnership in
\nAction,\" last Thursday to commemorate the International Day of
\nthe World's Indigenous People, that falls on Aug. 9.<\/p>\n
Eight tribal leaders, as well as anthropologists and non-
\ngovernmental organization (NGO) activists from all over the
\ncountry, were invited to talk. The event was not a comprehensive
\nstudy on all indigenous groups in Indonesia, but it offered a
\nmixture of tribes from eastern to western parts of the country,
\nfrom highlanders to sea people, and from tribal leaders familiar
\nwith the modern world to those who could not even speak
\nIndonesian.<\/p>\n
Likewise the leaders presented a potpourri of views, ranging
\nfrom simple \"We Need\" messages to in-depth discussions on land
\nrights for tribal people. Instead of dealing with general issues
\nof indigenous people, the workshop debated the specific cases the
\ntribal chiefs presented first-hand.<\/p>\n
But even the simplest message uttered in a broken speech
\ncontained valuable lessons, if listened to with empathy. A leader
\nof the Anak Dalam tribe who live in the jungles of southern
\nSumatra, for example, told the workshop participants: \"We need
\ntelevision\" -- a seemingly selfish wish of a tribe coveting
\nglittering things they did not need.<\/p>\n
But a deeper probe revealed that a group of transmigrants
\nlived near their homeland. These newcomers owned a television set
\nand refused to let the tribal people watch it with them. Suddenly
\nthe whole thing was put in a new light: tensions between the
\ntribe and the transmigrants.<\/p>\n
From Nias, an island to the west of North Sumatra, came a
\nmessage of economic hardship. A plague killed thousands of pigs
\nand forced the people to substitute pigs, ever important in
\ntraditional ceremonies, with eggs and not-so-traditional instant
\nnoodles.<\/p>\n
A more in-depth analysis came from Umbu Ndena Billi of Sumba
\nIsland, 1,500 km east of Jakarta, who said the development
\npolicies under Soeharto destroyed the vitality of indigenous
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Government-appointed village heads often ruled without clear
\nunderstanding of the indigenous people's needs, thereby creating
\ntension and dissent. At the same time, tribal lands were taken
\naway and the land given to favored companies.<\/p>\n
In addition, Billi said: \"Our children whom we send away to
\nstudy, when they have succeeded, become bureaucrats who are
\nagainst us because they have to obey the existing system of
\ngovernance.\"<\/p>\n
He demanded indigenous people be given a greater say in
\neconomic development and more freedom to run their own \"internal
\naffairs\", such as the freedom to implement traditional laws.<\/p>\n
Abud Paus-Paus, a \"raja\" (king) who rules over six tribes on
\nthe rocky Arguni island off the northwestern coast of Irian Jaya,
\ncalled for the government and aid communities to help establish a
\nbasic system for education and health care, as well as to provide
\nclean water.<\/p>\n
Chief Wesakin Asso of the Dani tribe from the Baliem Valley in
\nIrian Jaya, famous for their artistic wood carvings, delighted
\nthe audience with his speech in the Dani language and
\nappropriately called for protection of their traditional culture
\nagainst the influx of newcomers and global culture.<\/p>\n
\"We need a minimuseum,\" he said, \"to host sacred tribal
\ntreasures.\" Thieves have apparently stolen many antique artifacts
\nand sold them cheaply as souvenirs.<\/p>\n
Savitri Dyah, a researcher at the National Institute of
\nSciences (LIPI), said that capability discrepancies between
\nindigenous people and newcomers in the Baliem Valley created
\nsocial tensions between them, making the area prone to ethnic
\nconflicts.<\/p>\n
The Dani people were under pressure to sell their land as the
\nonly means to get cash to function in a market economy they were
\nnot familiar with. Since all their lands were communal lands,
\nthis had created tension between the elders and young people.<\/p>\n
From Kalimantan, Tumenggung Luansa of the Iban Tribe asked the
\ngovernment to stop taking away their tribal lands to give to
\ntimber companies. \"Tribal leaders often did not even know that
\ntheir lands had been taken,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He urged the government to include Dayak leaders in decision-
\nmaking about their lands. Dayak is the name given to some 400
\nethno-linguistically related groups in Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Stepanus Djuweng, director of the Pontianak-based Institute of
\nDayakology Research and Development, blamed the government for
\nits failure to recognize the existence of indigenous people,
\ncalling them isolated communities, instead. The Ministry of
\nSocial Services has identified 1.1 million members of isolated
\ncommunities living in 18 provinces in the country.<\/p>\n
Djuweng said education -- supposed to help students open their
\nminds and broaden their horizons -- had become a means of
\nindoctrination to make Dayak children sneer at their own culture.
\nMoslem and Christian missionaries also looked down at Dayak
\nculture, he said.<\/p>\n
The government treated the Dayak with contempt, he said, and
\nsought to destroy their communal homes, the \"Long Houses\", the
\npillar of Dayak communities, arguing that such houses were used
\nfor prostitution. Moreover, their forests, their source of
\nliving, were taken from them, he added.<\/p>\n
Djuweng said indigenous people did not need development, not
\neven sustainable development. His reason is that development is
\nanother name for unacceptable global capitalism and that
\ndevelopment is incompatible with sustainability. So, there is no
\nsuch thing as sustainable development. What they needed, he said,
\nwas empowerment for sustainability, sustainability being freedom
\nfrom development.<\/p>\n
Djuweng's interesting concept is that while modern men always
\nwant \"to own\", indigenous people want \"to be\". They are happy not
\nbecause they own anything but because there are just like fish in
\nthe river, animals in the forest, trees bearing fruit, and
\nmountains staying where they are.<\/p>\n
However, the \"We Need\" list that the tribal leaders brought to
\nthe workshop may be proof that such a concept is too idealistic
\nand that in today's small world, compromises have to be made
\nbetween \"to own\" and \"to be\".<\/p>\n
Noted historian Onghokham said in the workshop that no tribe
\nor anybody in the world could avoid internationalization or
\nglobalization, and that invariably, in the meeting between global
\nand local cultures, traditional rights of local peoples tended to
\ndisappear. \"It is the duty of governments,\" he said, \"to pay
\nattention to the peoples' rights.\"<\/p>\n
\"The right to development is the right of all peoples,\" said
\nthe UNDP's acting resident representative, Anne-Birgitte
\nAlbrectsen, explaining the UN's position on the issue.<\/p>\n
The UN declared 1995\/2004 as the International Decade of the
\nWorld's Indigenous People and pledged to improve their conditions
\nin such areas as human rights, the environment, development,
\neducation and health.<\/p>\n
It believes indigenous peoples must be empowered to make
\nchoices that would enable them to maintain their cultural
\nidentity while participating in national economic and social
\nlife.<\/p>\n
The writer is a member of staff at the UNDP in Jakarta. This
\narticle was written in his personal capacity.<\/p>",
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