INFID to discuss land rights

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.