Paras reaches out to change fate of poor

Kurniawan Hari The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Once home to an abundant water source, several villages on the slopes of Mt. Merbabu and Mt. Merapi in Central Java are now suffering a water shortage that gets worse during the dry season.

The drought has affected the annual harvest of the local community, and the local people say it was caused by the government's policy to grow pine trees on the mountains.

A conservation area ranging from 1,100 square meters to 1,650 sqm was changed into a pine forest in 1971, and state forest company PT Perhutani was behind the controversial policy.

Under the plan, pine trees were planted to replace a variety of trees indigenous to the montane region, including the banyan, sapodilla, acacia and quinine trees, along with coffee plants, cocoa trees and others that formed the forest reserve and secured the farmers' water source.

The pine forest has turned the local farmland into barren soil, as pine trees consume much more water than the native trees. The local community has voiced their plight to the government, but to no avail.

Realizing this, the Paras Foundation plans to help the local villagers by providing advocacy and facilities to fight for their livelihood and welfare.

Paras project leader and former legislator Mochtar Buchori said the recently established foundation had been gathering data and information regarding the problems of poor people around Mt. Merbabu and other areas.

Apart from the water shortage faced by the people of Mt. Merbabu, the foundation has also become aware of the straits faced by fishermen along the northern coast of Java in Batang, the people of Gunung Kidul regency, Yogyakarta, and street children in Semarang, Central Java.

While the water shortage faced by farmers of Mt. Merbabu is manmade, the people of Gunung Kidul have been facing a year-long drought due to the natural geographic conditions of the area.

Paras has compiled these various issues of the poor into a 103-page book titled Those who are neglected: Reflections and portraits of poverty in Indonesia.

The book details the problems, their causes and the activities undertaken by the affected people in deal with them.

"We plan to help the poor and to provide other institutions with valid reference information," said Laksamana Sukardi, co- founder of the foundation, in a recent interview.

The Paras foundation was established on Jan. 26; its research on the communities of Mt. Merbabu, Batang, Gunung Kidul and Semarang were undertaken and completed before its official launch.

Paras means "face", and the foundation envisions bringing smiles back onto the faces of the Indonesian people, particularly those who have been marginalized by the mainstream. The foundation was established to serve as partner, facilitator and mediator to empower the neglected poor.

Laksamana said the foundation's activities would include providing advocacy, technical assistance and education to the poor, as well as providing an accurate database for other institutions.

Both Mochtar and Laksamana are aware of their limited resources to accomplish their ideals, and are thus open to the possibilities of cooperating with other social welfare organizations.

Paras field coordinator Bambang Iswantoro said that in the long run, the foundation would teach volunteers to accompany the poor in rural areas.

He added that the foundation would start recruiting volunteers this year, with the possibility of new recruits coming from university -- the students or lecturers.

In addition, the foundation has a more ambitious vision of promoting the transformation of the Indonesian people into a "new" society with political freedom, economic prosperity, transparency and security.

With its three focus activities, including the empowerment of society through training volunteers, assessing and publishing information and cooperating with other organizations to encourage policies that help the marginalized poor.

The Paras foundation Jl. Cikatomas II No.4, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, 12180 Phone: (62-21) 7244077 Facsimile: (62-21) 7233961 email: parasindonesia@indo.net.id