People first in agrarian reform, NGO acticists demand
People first in agrarian reform, NGO acticists demand
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A coalition of environmental non-governmental organizations
called on Friday for an edict that would enable the common people
to have greater opportunities in the utilization of the country's
immense natural resources.
The coalition also called for a clear mechanism of conflict
resolution relating to land disputes between the people and the
state.
"Over all these years, the immense natural resources have been
exploited by the businesspeople and the political elite. They
need to be returned to the people ... and this must clearly be
included in articles of the Assembly's decree," said Agus
Purnomo, executive director of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-
Indonesia here on Friday.
Agus was commenting on the draft decree for the Agrarian
Reform and Natural Resource Management currently being
deliberated at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
He said that the draft regulates the natural resource
utilization more than that of the natural resource management.
Fellow activist from the Agrarian Reform (KPA) Nurfauzi hailed
the move by the Assembly to enact the decree, but criticized a
lack of thorough explanation in it.
Instead of accommodating only the cultivation of land and
urban areas, Nurfauzi said, the agrarian reforms should also
include forests, coastal areas, and locations where mining
activities take place.
He also calls for a limitation to the concession-owners in
resource exploitation.
Nurfauzi added he hoped the draft decree would also include
principles for sustainable development, tribal rules, human
rights protection, democracy, and diversity.
Sandra Moniaga from the Society for Ecology-based Law Reform
(Huma) admitted that the draft decree had more or less brought
good news environmental activists.
"It is difficult though to assess if our suggestions have been
adopted in the decree," she said.
The highly-criticized decree comprises nine articles and
focuses on the attempt to rearrange the ownership and the
utilization of land with respect to land ownership by the people,
both cultivated and urban land.