Resources, space vital for unity

JAKARTA (JP): The survival of Indonesia as a nation depends greatly on whether all groups of the community, including indigenous people, have adequate living space and access to resources, experts concluded yesterday.

Sociologist Loekman Soetrisno, socioeconomic researcher R. Yando Zakaria and anthropologist Parsudi Suparlan explored yesterday the question of national integration and interethnic relations.

They agreed on the importance of "political action", rather than only political will, when it comes to ensuring that indigenous people in remote, least-developed regions have access to and are able to manage their own national resources. An adequate living space for every group will help reduce potential for national disintegration, the experts concluded.

"Development policies and the next state guidelines have to include the rights of the indigenous," said Loekman Soetrisno, a sociologist from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, to The Jakarta Post at the ongoing national conference of anthropologists.

Loekman and Parsudi were responding to the Post's question about the outbreak of ethnic and sectarian riots that have hit the country over the past year. Loekman had previously identified disintegration as the biggest threat facing Indonesia at present.

Loekman cited the tribes in Indonesia's easternmost province, Irian Jaya, and the Dayak in East and Central Kalimantan provinces as examples of indigenous people whose access to social, economic and cultural sectors had been limited.

Late last year, Madurese migrants from East Java and the Dayak clashed in some West Kalimantan regions, killing hundreds of people and leaving a trail of destruction in various parts of the province.

Loekman said the situation should be corrected by ensuring that the flow of capital investment into the region also helps local communities thrive.

Yando, who spoke at the conference, said in his paper that the removal of the indigenous people's rights over land and other natural resources was at the root of conflicts among tribes.

"The negation of these people's rights could provoke an 'anti- state' sentiment," he said, citing reports about a Dayak secession attempt by those who tried to set up a "Free Dayak" state. He called the attempt a phenomenon of "grassroots insurgency".

Contrary to what many feared, the recognizing and granting of indigenous people's rights would not lead to national disintegration, he said.

He then called for the establishment of customary laws as a source for national laws. He pointed out that the 1945 Constitution endorses various social groups' rights, but this recognition had not been translated into lower laws and directives.

Parsudi offered his own explanation about the process of disintegration of a nation, which started with the mobilization of a group and its refusal to recognize a national system.

"A nation is governed by a system, based on the principle of national culture, which gives birth to various institutions that rule people's lives," he said.

"Once a group of people is mobilized and... refuses to recognize the validity of a national system, (the group) creates a national system of its own," Parsudi said. (09/swe)