Tribespeople marginalized by water bill: Experts

Tribespeople marginalized by water bill: Experts

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The bill on water resources, which has been widely criticized for
regarding water as a commodity, does not guarantee the rights of
ethnic minority groups and poor people to access to clean and
affordable water, experts say.

Agus Maryono, a lecturer at the school of technology of
Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, raised his concerns on
Monday over the issue during a discussion.

"The bill has failed to guarantee the rights of indigenous
tribes for access to water. As minority groups, they will suffer
the most if the bill is endorsed," he said.

The bill on water resources recognizes the existence of ethnic
minority groups, but articles in the bill fail to protect them,
said Agus, pointing to Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 6.

Paragraph 2 stipulates that the central government and local
administration must consider the ancestral rights of indigenous
tribes in exploiting water resources, as long as the
consideration of tribal interests does not contradict national
interest or the law.

However, Paragraph 3 states that the government and local
administration need only consider those ancestral rights that
were recorded in local regulations.

"The articles are awkward. I am afraid there will be problems
in its implementation ... Most indigenous tribes have yet to
register with local administrations," Agus said.

There are some 300 officially recognized indigenous tribes,
which comprise some 12 million of the nation's population. The
figure does not reflect the total number of indigenous tribes in
Indonesia, because some tribes live in forests or other remote
areas and do not have direct contact with the modern world.

Fellow lecturer Budi Wignyosukarto concurred with Agus, saying
that the bill had sidelined the rights of indigenous tribes.

"This is not fair. Some of them have managed their water
resources for hundreds of years, but they would not be able to do
this if investors exploit their springs," he said.

Desiana V. of Mercubuana University criticized the bill for
failing to cover wells, which has been considered groundwater.

She pointed out that the wells of some poor Jakartans had
dried out because their wealthy neighbors dug wells hundreds of
meters deep, thus diverting all the water from the underground
source.

"There should be regulations over the issue, particularly on
how deep people can dig their wells," she said.

The experts also said these issues all stemmed from the bill's
basic assumption that water was an economic commodity, rather
than social commodity.

"This is the root of the problem. They consider water as an
economic commodity instead of a fixed asset," Budi stressed,
urging the revision of the bill.

Soegijapranata Catholic University economist Wiyanto Hadipuro
said he strongly opposed the bill, as it opened the door for
authorities to apply a market-based mechanism to water.

"There should be limitations and requirements for water
investment," he said.

Gatot Irianto, water specialist at the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture, said the bill would only provide greater benefits to
the private sector and not the public, let alone indigenous
people.

"The investors know that water will be scarce in the future.
They might have land with springs today, but they don't touch it
until water becomes scarce and then, they step in," he said.

Gatot expressed his fears of a possible monopoly of water
resources by the private sector. "This is likely to happen, but
do people know about it?"

Earlier in the day, legislator M. Rosyid Hidayat of the Reform
Faction said the bill might still be revised because the House of
Representatives Commission IV on infrastructure and
telecommunications affairs had postponed the deliberation until
January.

The Commission believed that the bill needed to be promoted
more among government institutions and the people.

However, legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction said the delay would not change
the bill.

The bill has caused much controversy, not only among the
public but also among government ministries, mainly because it
considers water as an economic, not a social, commodity.

The government has admitted that the bill's endorsement was
connected to the last disbursement of a US$300 million loan under
the 1999 World Bank-sponsored Water Resources Sector Adjustment
Loan (Watsal).