Henry, defender of farmers' rights

Henry, defender of farmers' rights

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Henry Saragih can still remember how dismayed he felt when he saw people in neighboring villages in North Sumatra living in complete poverty.

Many were working for plantation companies and living on a meager income. To make ends meet, they had to take on extra work in Henry's village, which happened to be better off.

"It was unjust. They had their own homes, but they had no land to farm and were scraping by on a small wage from the company they worked for," the 39-year-old Saragih told the Jakarta Post.

In contrast, many families in his village owned farmland, and grew an abundant supply of fruit and vegetables.

"The economic gap inspired me to defend farmers' rights and help raise their living standard. They should be given unused (state) land to farm and this can materialize through land reforms," said Henry, who is the secretary-general of the Indonesian Farmers Federation (FSPI).

The modest man is one of the founders of FSPI, which was established on July, 8, 1998, along with representatives from eight other farmers unions from across Indonesia. The federation has 14 farmers unions.

But in actual fact Henry had dedicated his time to defending farmers' rights long before the FSPI came into being.

While studying at the School of Social Politics at North Sumatra University between 1983 and 1988, Henry and his friends formed a discussion forum in 1985, which later turned into a field movement to defend farmers.

"We grew tired of just talking about it, so my friends and I decided to take concrete action to help the farmers," said Henry.

They decided to help the farmers in Asahan, North Sumatra, where a hydropower plant was built but locals were denied access to its energy.

At long last, his group, with financial assistance from foreign donors, was able to build a micro hydropower plant to provide electricity to the village in 1999.

His group, which then established the North Sumatra Farmers Union (SPSU), also helps other farmers groups to build similar unions to voice their interests, particularly in land reforms.

Under the Soeharto regime, he and many other activists were subjected to police harassment and were even terrorized for defending farmers who faced losing their property to make way for development projects.

Henry estimates that some 40 percent of the land on which private plantation firms and state companies have projects were forcibly acquired.

Many farmers began losing their land when the government introduced the nucleus estates plantation (PIR) scheme in the 1970s.

Henry said the present living conditions of farmers is not much better than it was during the Soeharto era.

"In the past, Soeharto was our common enemy, but now, even though we have the freedom to take part in a union, our enemies also have the same right," said the father of a son and a daughter.

"It's a jungle out there, and survival of the fittest."

As an example, Henry said one farmer in Padang, West Sumatra, was shot dead in 1999, and 10 farmers in Banten were arrested for protesting the acquisition of their land.

"The Megawati government is unable to bring justice to her people either," said Henry.

He criticized the government's reluctance to carry out land reforms even though the action was mandated by the amended 1945 Constitution.

"The only way to help this country get ahead is to develop our agricultural sector by giving land away to farmers to secure the national food supply," he said.

At present, Indonesia needs to import millions of tons of rice, soybeans and corn, even though the country can export palm oil, cocoa and coffee.

"It is all a reflection of just how poorly the government runs this country," Henry said.

If, he said, the state could wisely distribute land for farmers to cultivate rice, corn or soybeans across the country, Indonesia would not have to import these commodities.

But distributing land has become harder as problems of land ownership have worsened after pressure was applied from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to manage the agricultural trade.

As a father, Henry has one simple wish and that is for having more time to spend with his daughter and son.

"I spent only three years at home with my daughter, who is now 11 years old," he said, adding that most of his time had been devoted to traveling across the country to help farmers.

Henry is determined to be an activist for life.

"I was told by my religious teacher that I have to live as a social being and not as an individual," said Henry in his thick Batak accent.