INFID to discuss land rights

By Arief Budiman

SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): Through the process of globalization, the world is becoming one unit. Boundaries among states have become more permeable. It is true interaction among countries has existed for a very long time. But now it has intensified. No country can avoid intervention in its internal affairs. To interact is not a choice for a country anymore, it is now compulsory, dictated by global structures.

Interaction among countries exists both on state and civil levels. Interaction among states takes place in all sectors, economic, political, military, and cultural. The United Nations is the highest embodiment of this international interaction.

Interaction among civil societies also exists, for example among political parties of the same stripe, among people of the same profession, among people with the same belief and religion. However, in the last ten years, a new kind of international interaction has emerged: among NGOs (Non-Government Organizations). Unlike its predecessors, the international interaction of NGOs is not based on any ideology or belief, but on concrete issues.

The birth of this international cooperation between NGOs has given more power to the people's struggle to defend their rights against the state. This struggle is not limited by national boundaries but has expanded and moved to the international arena.

Thus human rights violations in one country are no longer just the affair of the people and the state of the respective country alone, but have become internationalized politically.

The state now has to respond in international arenas to defend its policies. This is altogether more difficult than at home. For instance, the Chinese government is still smarting from the international revulsion at its brutal handling of the Tianemen Square incident. This has affected China not only morally and politically, but also economically. It is likely the Chinese government would now think hard before launching similar repressive measures in the future.

For Indonesia, the international cooperation of NGOs has manifested itself in the creation of the International NGO Forum for Indonesian Development (INFID) which will have its tenth annual meeting in Canberra, Australia, from April 26 to 28, 1996. Under the previous name of INGI (International NGO forum on Indonesia), INFID has become the international lobby for the Indonesian people's struggle as represented by various NGOs in Indonesia.

INGI was established in 1985 with the idea of giving an "alternative" to the report prepared by the World Bank for IGGI (Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia). As we know, IGGI that was created just after the birth of the New Order Government in the second half of the 1960s, as a consortium of the rich countries to help the Indonesian government overcome its economic problems.

Initiated especially by the World Bank, the U.S. and Japan, IGGI grouped many other countries in western Europe and Australia. Headed by the Dutch Minister of Development Aid, IGGI had its annual meeting in The Hague in the Netherlands. However, due to a spat between Indonesia and the Netherlands over the issues of Human Rights, and East Timor, IGGI was dissolved in 1992. It was replaced by the CGI (Consultative Group on Indonesia), led by the World Bank and meeting every year in Paris. The Netherlands is now only a common member of the CGI.

In the annual meeting, as the defunct IGGI used to, the CGI presented a report prepared by the World Bank on the progress of Indonesian development. This report is based mainly on macroeconomic indicators, and sees things from the state's point of view. Human Rights, environmental damage and the fate of the common people victimized by development projects have rarely appeared in the reports. When they do appear, they are treated as the unavoidable cost of development.

In 1985 several Indonesian NGOs working together with some Dutch NGOs set up INGI with the task of reporting the implementation of development policies from the people's point of view.

Their concerns are: What are the impacts of the construction of a big dam on the people? What impact did the family planning policy financed by the World Bank have on the common people? How about transmigration? Over the years many development projects that are considered successful by the World Bank, are evaluated differently in the report made by the Indonesian NGOs in the INGI forum. INGI collects the reports directly from NGOs that work at grass roots level with the people affected.

One of the most notorious cases was the construction of the Kedung Ombo Dam in Central Java. The dam may be useful for the economic development of the country, but not for the tens of thousand peasants that were driven out from their productive lands. Many of them were intimidated by security forces when they demanded adequate compensation for their land.

INGI, and later INFID, was joined by many other NGOs from countries of IGGI members, such as Germany, the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and others. These NGOs then lobby their own governments so that economic aid from these countries will not be harmful for the people at the grass root level. In this sense, INGI/INFID have been instrumental in improving the quality of development aid.

However, the Indonesian government is not happy with the existence of INGI/INFID. During INGI's advocacy on the Kedung Ombo Dam case, INGI's leaders were summoned several times by State Secretary Moerdiono. They were told that INGI had to consider the national interest. Patriotism was also brought up, along the lines of: never say bad things about your own country abroad. So far, INGI has been consistent. It maintains that INGI's advocacy for the common people is in the national interest. INGI has rejected the slogan of "my country right or wrong." The right slogan is "right or wrong is right or wrong."

Why doesn't the Indonesian government ban INFID? In my opinion, the government is clever enough to know that banning INFID will create more problems than it solves. The NGOs of many countries, members of INFID, would lobby their respective governments, and it is likely that this would have a negative impact on the relationships between Indonesia and these countries.

We all know that Indonesia still badly needs financial aid from friendly foreign countries. What we are witnessing here now is the increasing bargaining power of the civil society vis-a-vis the state through the process of increasing international cooperation among civil societies.

At the coming conference in Canberra at the end of this month INFID will be discussing land problems. This is a very significant issue. Land has been quoted recently as one of the most controversial issues in Indonesia, and one that underlies much of the current social unrest.

This has something to do with the policy of the New Order Government.

The previous government under Sukarno saw land as the means of survival for the masses in the country. So public policies were aimed at giving land to the people. The Agrarian Law was legislated during this time, in 1960. However, the New Order government has slowly changed this policy. Now, land has to be used to sustained high economic growth. Land has to be exploited by those entrepreneurs who can add value. Public policies are now geared toward this new goal.

Thus we see a lot of legislation emanating from the New Order government making it easier for businesspeople to buy or rent land. If necessary, people have to sacrifice their land to the state, if it considers that the land will be used in the "public interest." (See: Presidential Decision No.55/1993 entitled "Land Availability for Development Implementers for the Public Good").

As so often happens with legislation in Indonesia, this loophole has been abused. So although this regulation could only be used by the government, and the people have to be compensated based on the current market price for their land, in practice the private sector can be "helped" by government officials to lay their hands on land and pay derisory compensation nowhere near current market prices.

Advocacy on land issues by some NGOs has created conflict between the NGOs and the security forces. Now these issues, with other issues such as like Indonesian labor in Malaysia, will be brought to international attention through INFID. It is still unclear whether this will make the people's position stronger in the defense of their rights to the land. In Indonesia the state is still much stronger than civil society.

The writer is a researcher and sociologist living in Salatiga.

Window: Thus human rights violations in one country are no longer just the affair of the people and the state of the respective country alone, but have become internationalized politically.