Village heads start rolling under public pressure in W. Java

By Kafil Yamin

BANDUNG (JP): The reform movement in West Java villages is quite intense. The fanfare is more colorful, but with a simpler goal: a change in village heads. Perhaps because of such simplicity, the villagers struggle outweighs their well-educated compatriots in success.

At least 79 village heads have stepped down due to public pressure and thousands others are expected to follow suit soon, according to the West Java Village Council.

Then there are the staff members who shared their bosses' fate. It is commonly assumed that the staffers played a role in their bosses' misconduct and abuse of power.

Village administration, the smallest instrument of the state, has always been a miniature of the nation's social, economic and political realities.

"Accusations against village heads can always be placed in the present political mainstream -- the purging of what is popularly called KKN (corruption, collusion and nepotism)," said Djadja Ahmad Badja, head of the village council.

The falling village heads have much in common. They were accused of being involved in the illegal selling of public property, in collecting illegal levies, fund-raising, graft or the fabrication of school certificates.

In Tangerang, hundreds of Babakan Asem villagers carried a coffin to the Tangerang administration office. They were protesting against their village head, who they accused of selling a 10,000-square-meter cemetery for his own benefit. They demanded the regent fire the village head.

In Kuningan, the Sidaraja village head was removed after waves of mass protest against blatant nepotism. The village head, said protesters, appointed his children, cousins and nephews as his secretary, treasurer, head of the village council and other posts.

"Soeharto is not the only one to practice nepotistic leadership. Our village head did the same. So he should resign," a protester said.

There are other misdeeds commonly practiced by village heads -- the fabrication of school certificates and polygamy.

One of the main requirements for a candidate running for village head is that he or she must be a graduate of primary school at the very least. Primary school dropouts often manage to pass the nomination test by submitting faked certificates. This usually worked before protests broke out.

Whereas polygamy, though considered acceptable by some, is a serious violation of a government regulation imposed on all civil servants.

Being a village chief gives one not only power and prestige. Under the village administration rule, every head-elect is given a plot of land, tanah bengkok, which usually covers a huge area. Village heads are entitled to utilize this land however they see fit and may rent it out or work the land themselves.

According to Endang Suhendar, senior researcher of the AKATIGA social research center, village head candidates are willing to spend tens of millions of rupiah for the opportunity to glean gains from the land.

"So the first 'program' a village head-elect launches is to get back the money he spent during the election campaign. And the next program is to enrich himself. The next program is to improve the welfare of his family, relatives, cronies, etc."

He said that people are unsurprised by the various financial irregularities attributed to village heads. "From the very beginning, a village head candidate is known to covert the position for money. And people accept it by receiving payoffs from the candidate they support".

Despite the mounting public pressure, most village heads are reluctant to step down.

"If they want me to step down now," said Ara Hidayat, head of Lagadar village on the outskirts of Bandung, "they should put Rp 50 million on my table now. That's the amount I spent during the campaign."

Hidayat was accused of illegally selling public land, receiving bribes from textile factories to overlook their practice of dumping waste, fabrication of his school certificate.

Toha Maksum, head of Sidamulya village in Cilacap regency, located on the border of West and Central Java, went wild and offensive after people demanded that he step down. He is now under psychiatric treatment.

"He is the victim of reform. Poor him," commented a local resident.

Meanwhile, the way many people are staging protests has begun to get out of line.

Last month in Gintungreja village of the same regency, protesters forced their village head, Hartoyo, to stand in the sun in front of the administration office from 8 a.m to 5 p.m.

During the ordeal, the protesters forced Hartoyo, a police sergeant major, to sign a statement saying he would return a certain amount of his wealth to the people.

"They (protesters) have crossed the line. That is blatant abuse of human rights," said Soepriono, a member of Cilacap legal aid team.

They also terrorize defiant village heads with midnight phone calls and threats.

Hundreds of village heads in Banjarnegara regency recently marched to the local legislature to demand protection.

"They, who claim to be reformists, threatened my family, damaged and looted our home," said Hermanto, head of Simbang village.

Why have villagers become more critical and courageous these days?

Before answering, Prof. Dr. Kusnaka Kantaprawira, sociological expert at Bandung's Padjadjaran University, stressed the words "these days" in the question.

"Villagers have been more critical and courageous compared to well-educated people in cities. This reform fever boosted their critical level and courage," he said.

He is of the view that Soeharto's floating mass policy, under which villages were excluded from political campaigns, failed to stifle people's political awareness.

The current procedure of village heads approval, by which regents are more decisive, has also contributed a great deal to rural turmoil.

"An eligible and respected figure cannot become village head if he fails to please his superiors by paying them off," Kantaprawira said.

Kantaprawira offered a solution to keeping village life in order. First, this approval procedure, including the floating mass policy, should be abolished.

Second, villages should be left to run their own administration and to decide for themselves what is good for their future and development.

Just as important is people empowerment by non-governmental organizations. Kantaprawira termed the new role NGOs should play as "village consultants".

"They (NGOs) have the capability in showing communities their potential and how to develop it," he said.