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.