How Dayaks manage their resources

By John Bamba

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): There are shrimps on the leaves sunk on riverbeds. There are fish in the waters. There are animals in the forests.

This saying of Dayak Jelai living in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan, describes succinctly their vision and dreams about living in happiness and prosperity. Simple as it is, it is their foundation for living.

Living in harmony with nature is the basis of their lives, and the Dayak have developed a distinct management system of natural resources. Only from this perspective can one really understand what the Dayak are doing today in managing their environment.

Today, most if not all of the riverbeds have turned into mud deposits, fish are found more easily in fishponds or aquariums than in rivers and most forests have become empty where even the songs of birds are rarely heard. For the Dayak, these conditions could be the beginning of their genocide. Nature, especially land, river and forest are the three most important elements that allow a person to live as a real Dayak.

For centuries, these natural elements together have formed a unique identity that we now recognize as Dayak tribe, culture, customary laws and religion.

Dayak culture with all its oral traditions is inseparable from its surroundings. A Dayak shaman could not perform a healing ritual if there were no more forest to collect the materials for the ritual and the medicines for the patient. The Naik Dango (harvest) festival would no longer exist if there were no more areas for farming or if perladangan (farming) activities were banned. Customary laws applied for illegal marriage -- which include bathing the couple with dog and pig blood in the river -- could not be performed if the waterways have been polluted or turned into dams.

In short, the Dayak identity will be lost with the loss of nature. At present, the loss is guaranteed by ignoring this sociocultural function of land, forest and river for the Dayak. Various forestry laws and regulations in Indonesia unfortunately fail to recognize this function. Forests are treated as green gold that should be exploited to collect as much money as possible.

Principles

The Dayak have five principles in the natural resource management system: sustainability, collectivity, biodiversity, subsistence, and customary laws.

* Sustainability. The most distinct aspect is that all the Dayak view nature as a "common house" (rumah bersama) rather than economic asset or wealth. It is clearly reflected in the "permission" ritual which is carried out before any activities are done. The "permission" ritual is even carried out before an area for farming is cleared. The point is to ask for agreement from other beings that possibly dwell in that area.

The song of a particular bird or the voice of certain animals could be treated as an omen or augury whether the permission is granted or not. By treating nature as a "common house" for all beings, it is not exploited for the benefit of humans alone but also for the benefit of other beings.

* Collectivity. Nature with all its resources is managed based on the principle of collectivity for common benefits. The areas for farming could be cleared by all respective village members. Fish in the rivers and animals in the forests could be caught, trapped or hunted. Fruit gardens inherited by ancestors are collectively owned by all village members.

A villager does not need to pay for a cemetery plot because it is a collective possession. All the villagers have similar access to sacred areas as well as hunting grounds. On the other hand, individual rights are also granted. Farming areas, which have been planted with cash crops, are recognized as individual possessions.

* Biodiversity. One of the most obvious distinctions between resources management by the Dayak and that belonging to the capitalistic economy is in terms of biodiversity. Under the Dayak system, the sustainability of biodiversity is the priority, while the capitalistic economy would place productivity at the top.

* Subsistence. The Dayak exploit the natural resources for subsistence purposes; therefore the exploitation is done on a very small scale. There are some commodities that are market- oriented such as rubber, but these are not the main source of income. Timber exploitation is mostly for domestic use or for firewood. Though there are some villagers who collect timber for sale, this exploitation is done using traditional equipment and is thus still tolerable for the environment.

* Customary Laws. Dayak manage and exploit natural resources based on customary laws which have been formulated to guarantee the sustainability of nature. Unfortunately, the present national laws do not clearly recognize the customary laws which are still applied by the community. One of the clauses of the Agrarian Law states that these customary laws are recognized as long as they are not incompatible with the national interests. This diplomatic statement does not give any real recognition since "national interests" can encompass many definitions.

Jargon

These main principles are found in all Dayak management of national resources. If we consistently applied the above five principles in the management of our natural resources, we should undoubtedly achieve what has become the most popular contemporary jargon: sustainable development.

Many experts say that sustainable development must meet at least three criteria: economically beneficial; ecologically sound; culturally not destructive. It is obvious that the indigenous peoples, especially the Dayak, have been practicing sustainable ways of extracting natural resources for ages.

The indigenous peoples' wisdom in managing natural resources is often considered a hindrance to development and modernization. Therefore, this wisdom is gradually disappearing and being replaced by the destructive exploitation for the sake of high economic growth. In West Kalimantan, for example, the local government's target to achieve 10.9% of economic growth by encouraging giant investment on palm oil, industrial tree plantation and mining will bear the worst environmental destruction.

Sign

The most glaring sign already with us is the raging forest fires affecting not only lives of people in Kalimantan but also abroad.

It is clear the lives of the Dayak, formerly full of high cultural values, have been infiltrated by outside influences as the impact of spreading consumerism in the world. But changes toward a better life should be started by the Dayak themselves.

They should free themselves from feeling inferior and become confident that they have much to offer to create a more just and better world for all. They have the wealth of their customary laws, culture and traditions. There must also be a change in other people's perceptions of the Dayak.

Branding the Dayak as cannibals, headhunters, shifting cultivators, forest squatters and other degrading stereotypes will only do harm. President Soeharto's recent statement that the forest fires were not caused by the traditional farmers should be applauded as an example of the wisdom of an experienced leader.

The writer is research program coordinator of the Institute of