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Agrarian Conflicts in Indonesia : 1st Quarter of 2009

______________________________________________________________________________OneoftheissuescarriedbytheIndonesianPeasants’Union(SPI)istoencouragetheimplementationofgenuineagrarianreform.Agrarianreformisacorrectiveefforttore-arrangetheagrarianstructuregap,whichallowstheexploitationofmanoverman,toorderanewstructurebasedonsocial justice.Themaingoal is toachieveasituationwhere there is no excessive concentration in the control and use up of agrarianresourcesonthehandofafewpeople.1The frequent injustice we often see and manifest in our daily struggle, such asconcentration of agrarian resources on a few people (especially land and water).Consequently, the ownership of land by peasants has been reduced in a significantnumber.Currently,landownershipbypeasantsinJavaislandisonly0.3hectaresperhousehold and 1.19 hectare outside Java. In fact, land conversion give a subsequentrise in the number of landless people in East Kalimantan. At least 5,000 hectare ofagricultural land were turned into coal mines which are spread in 12 districts.Inevitably, agrarian conflicts continue to happen. The table below shows the largenumberofagrarianconflictthatoccurredinthelasttwoyearsinIndonesia.

List of Agrarian Conflicts in 2007-20082S

PIandvarioussources,2009

In fact,agrarianconflicts is stillourdailyexperienceuntil thepresent,at least in thelast threemonths. Based on SPI data, violation of the rights of the peasants is oftenhappen,especiallyrelatedtolanddisputes.First,inearlyMarch2009,hundredsofmassjoinedintheSPIofAsahanRegencycametotheOfficeofAsahanRegent,demandingthesettlementoflanddisputessufferedbymembers of SPI Simpang Kopas and Sei Kopas Basis, North Sumatera. It’s part ofefforts to reclaim peasants agricultural land that was grabbed by two private localcompanies,PTPratamaJayaBaruandPTBakrieSumatraPlantation. 1 http://www.spi.or.id/?page_id=343 2 Most of the recorded cases have been longstanding, but the violence occurred repeatedly. Cases

recorded the violence that occurred during 2008.

Year Case Land Area Peasants Criminalisastion

Victims of Land Expropriation

Killed

2007 76 196.179 166 people 24.257 families 8 2008 63 49. 000 ha* 312 people 31.267 families 6 people**

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Second,therearealsocasethatfallonthememberofSPIDamakMalihoBasis,NorthSumatra.ThreemembersoftheSPIDamakMalihoBasisputontrialinLubukPakamDistrictCourtonWednesday,11February2009.Thethreepeasantswerestrugglingtoreclaimtheir landsthathavebeenexpropriatedbyastate-ownedcompany,PTPNIVAdolina Garden. Those three peasants are Jumadi (59), Ngatimin (51), and Sumadi(58),indictedarticle47point1ofLawNo.18/2004(PlantationLaw).

Third, thereisalsocasethathappensinLebak Lebung, an area with abundantfish in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI)Regency,SouthSumatera.LebakLebunghas been auctioned by the OKI localgovernment, so that this area now isoccupied by auction winner. While thecommunitymustpayinlargenumbersifthey want to catch fish there. Since 10years ago, DPW SPI (SPI in provinciallevel)ofSouthSumatera,formerlySouthSumatera Peasant Union (SPSS),demandedthatLebakLebungshouldbe

returned to the community. In that time span, there have been some changes andachievementinPerda(localgovernmentregulation).On25November2008,thelocalgovernment revised the regulation about Lebak Lebung by issuing RegulationNo. 9year2008aboutthemanagementofLebakLebungandtheriver.Withthisregulation,Lebak Lebungwill not go for sale in an auction anymore, but being returned to thelocalcommunitywithmanagementbyregentandvillageregulations.

Besides Lebak Lebung conflict, also occurs the taking over of 26 thousand hectarespeat area in OKI Regency for palm oil plantations by PT Waringin Agro Jaya. PTWaringinAgro Jayaalreadyhasprincipleand locationconsent from theOKIRegent.Before the discharge of Lebak Lebung exemption regulation, DPW SPI of SouthSumaterahavemadethemassmobilisationontherejectionofthepalmoilplantationinthepeatarea,wherericefieldcattlepenandtheirterritoryarelocated.3

TherearefiveformsofagrarianconflictthatgoingoninIndonesiauntilnow,namely:(1)conflictinplantationarea,(2)infrastructureconflict;(3)conflictsinforestarea;(4)conflictintheminingarea,and(5)conflictin/claimedthemilitaryarea.

There are two types of conflict in plantation area: namely the conflict with themanagementofprivateplantationcompanyandwiththemanagementofstate-ownedplantation company (PTPN). Infrastructure conflict occurs when people’s lands arebeingtakenoverinthenameof"forthepublicinterest".Thistypeofconflictoccurinmany places where public facilities located such as in urban areas, housing areas,industrial, tourism and the area of governance. There are also two types of forestryconflict: forestproductionconflictwithstate-ownedforestrycompany,PTPerhutani,

3 http://www.spi.or.id/?p=809

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and protected forest conflict or conflict of national park expansion. Furthermore,conflict in the mining area occurred because of new mining usually rub people'sagricultural land, whether it open or closed mining. Meanwhile, the conflictin/claimedwithmilitaryrelatedtothecontrolofthelandsofthepeoplebytheTentaraNasionalIndonesiaorTNI,eitherbythearmy,navyandtheairforce.In the struggle to achieve the genuine agrarian reform in Indonesia, there are somerelated government policies. These include the PPAN (National Agrarian ReformProgram),proclaimedbytheadministrationofPresidentSusiloBambangYudhoyono-JusufKalla(SBY-JK)since2006,whichtheideawastoredistributelandtothepeople.PPAN never been realized4 even up to almost the end of their administration inOctober2009.On16December2008,PresidentSBYonthelaunchofLarasita(ServiceProgram for the Certification of Land) in Prambanan Temple Park, Klaten, CentralJava,saidthatthepriorityworksoftheBPN(NationalLandAgency)arethesettlementofagrarianconflictsandlandissues,distributionoflandtothedisplacedpeople,andtheaccelerationoflandcertificationprocess.5PPANagendawas justapolitical rhetoricofSBY-JKadministration togainsympathyfrompeasantsin2009GeneralElection.Agrarianreformisintendedtoreduceandtoeliminateinjusticeintheagrarianstructure,howevertheimplementationisquitethecontrary. Acceleration of land certification process will strengthen the structure ofinequality and accelerate land market creation mechanisms. This condition is inaccordancewiththedesireoftheWorldBankandtheAsianDevelopmentBank(ADB)that brings land reform based on land market concept. In the concept of theseInternationalFinanceInstitutions,someonewhoisable tobuythe land,he/she is toget it.The currentplanondrafting theLandLaw (alreadyproposed in theHouseofRepresentative),wassupportedbytheADBprojectinordertofosteringlandmarketinIndonesia.UrgentissuethatalsoneedstobehandledisabouttherevisionofPlantationLaw(LawNo. 18/2004). This law gives profusion of powers to the large plantation companies.Forexample,inthecaseofauthorityofcompaniestoformasecurityteam(usuallytheparamilitary, namely PAM Swakarsa), which in practice often violate the rights ofpeasants. The current Plantation Law is only perpetuating colonialism practicesagainstpeasantsbylargeplantationcompanies.OneofthemostobviousevidencethatPlantationLawviolatepeasants’rightsis:oneofthearticles(article47)mentionedthat“peasants who cultivate land that has been turned into plantation area will becriminalized,whereasthe landisstill indisputeor intheconflictsituation(effortsofreclaiming).”Otherwise, there isnopenalty for anycompany to continuecultivatingthatplantationareaevenwhenthelandisstillindispute.From January toMarch, three agrarian conflicts occurred in Indonesia, as describedabove. Problem in the data collection of various agrarian conflicts is that thegovernment often neglects cases settlement, so there are existing overlapping datasbetween the old and new conflict settlements. Standard to measure the success of

4 Peasants’ View on Government Agriculture Policy in 2008 5 http://www.antara.co.id/arc/2008/12/16/gubernur-sumsel-akan-hadiri-peluncuran-larasita-di-yogyakarta/

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conflictresolutionisnotonlytoseehowmanyconflictsweresuccessfullywonbythepeasants. Standard that is used is to record how much land is still occupied orsuccessfully reclaimed by peasants, and howmuch land is succeeded in getting thelegal-formalrecognition.

Indeed, agrarian conflicts that occur in Indonesia are rooted in the state orientationideology,whichwewitnessed is shifting from a populistic-oriented ideology (social-populistic) to capitalistic. With the capitalistic ideology, land commodificationbecomes more popular. Land is being used as a mere market commodity with theeasy-to-transfermethodthroughmarketmechanism.Therefore,onlypeoplewhohavemoneyareabletoaccessandcontrolland.

Agrarian conflict will still be ongoing to happen due to agrarian gap that only becompleted by land certification, not by structural settlement. Some measures thatmustbedonearepreventionandterminationofownershipexpansion,tocontrolandmanageutilizationofagrarianresources,andtoimplementanintegratedlandreformimmediately. SPI asses that as long as the genuine agrarian reform asmandated inUUPA 1960 (Basic Agrarian Law) is not being realized thouroughly all across thenation,Indonesiawillalwaysgothroughagrarianconflict,lackofruralinfrastructure,foodimports,andtheuncontrollableurbanization.Andthereforewillnotresolvethebiggerproblem:hunger,malnutrition,unemployment,andpoverty.*****

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Peasants' Pusdiklat offer alternative, Government's counterproductive

______________________________________________________________________________“Small scale and family-based sustainable agriculturewillmaintain food sovereigntyfor humankind and contribute to the cooling down of the planet” (Henry Saragih’sspeech at the Solidarity for a Cool Planet, a parallel event to the UNFCCC in Bali,December2007).One of Serikat Petani Indonesia (Indonesian Peasant Union, SPI) commitment is topush forward toa sustainable farmingbyestablishingPusdiklat (Center forLearningand Training) of organic farming and sustainable agriculture. The establishment ofPusdiklat is one of our endless effort against the current agribusinessmodel that isoppressing, destructing the environment, annihilating biodiversity andputting asidelocalwisdom.PusdiklatSPI inBogorhasbeenestablishedsince2005,but justofficiallyopenedthisFebruary 12, 2009. This place is built as SPI coordination center for developing,learning,andpractisingsustainableagriculture.Alotofactivities,suchasexperimentand internship for two to five people, have been organised frequently.Nevertheless,theenrolmentforalargenumberofstudentshasjuststartedlastyear.OnDecember2008,thePusdiklatopeneditsfirstlargeclassandtheprogrammeendedonFebruary2009.Then,coursesandtrainingwillbecontinuouslyheldbythePusdiklattopreparecadres(militante)inregardsofsustainableagriculture.PusdiklatSPIlikewiseisalsoestablishedinWestSumatraprovince,situatedinNagariSitujuahGadang,LimapuluhKotaregent.PusdiklatSPIinWestSumatraisestablishedinthebeginningof2007andithasapproximately1hectarelandintotal.Thefacilitiesinthiscenterareclasses,experimentplots,internship,dormitory,andorganicfarmingnursery.

In Doulu village Berastagi, Tanah Karoregent, North Sumatera province, SPIalso built organic farming Pusdiklatwhich acting as the branch of PusdiklatSPI in Lobu Roppa, Asahan regent. Thefacility is approximately having 2hectares-wide, and this facility isfocusing to develop high-terrainvegetables and fruits. The moresustainable agriculture is well-informedtocommunity,themoreitisexercisedin

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our food and agricultural system and hopefully food sovereignty is achieved by thepeopleinthecommunity.On the other side, recent development in Indonesia showing that the governmentthroughtheMinistryofAgricultureisplanningaprogramentitled“GoOrganic2010”inearlierJanuary,2009.Theprogramismeanttoincreasetheuseoforganicfertilizeras the balancer of chemical fertilizer in order to increase the soil fertility.Unfortunately, this program has not been able to create and enhance theindependenceofmany farmers. It isbecause thedevelopmentoforganic fertilizer isbeingdonebybigcompanies suchasPT.Pusri andPetrokimiaGresik.Theprogramfromthegovernmentsupposestoempowerfarmerssotheycouldbeindependenceaswell as to hear their thoughts. In fact, the experience of sustainable agriculturepractises show the correlation between the independence (where most inputs andmeans of production are being made in local and community level) and theimprovementofruraleconomy.The government’s program “GoOrganic 2010” is then signaling the opportunity fortradeoforganicfarmingproductsatdomesticandinternationalmarket.Itshowsthatthegovernmentisstillhugely influencedbymarketmechanismwhichisalsoexport-oriented,andignoringitsconsequencestothefarmer’swelfareandthedevelopmentof sustainable agriculture.This is also counterproductive to the real alternative fromthe people, which we are sure and experienced, to be the real solution to thehumankindandtheplanetingreatersense.*****

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Rice Politics in Election: Peasants Become Object of Political Play

______________________________________________________________________________Food sovereignty is a concept of food self-fulfilling through local production. Foodsovereigntyisstateand/orpeople'srightstothefulfillmentoffoodinagoodquality,nutritious, culturally appropriate produced by sustainable and environmentallyfriendly methods. It means that food sovereignty upholds the principle of fooddiversificationinaccordancetotheexistinglocalculture.Foodsovereigntyalsomeansthe fulfillment of people’s rights to define their own system of agriculture and foodwhich is family-based andwith principles of solidarity, instead of agribusiness withprofit-basedprinciples.6The government, through its Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono, in midDecember 2008 stated that the national rice production for the last two years havebeenincreasing5%eachyear.TheministerclaimedtheincreaseisduetotheinitiationofP2NB(NationalRiceProductionEnhancementProgram)by thePresident in2007.This resulted inanational ricesurplus in2008 that reached thepointof2.34milliontons7.Then, in mid March 2009, the government announced that rice exporting was nolongermonopolizedbyBulog(NationalLogisticsBoard).Thegovernmentopenedthechanceforprivatesectorstobeinvolvedinriceexporting.Thisdecisionwasmadeasan effort of balancing the rice trade in relations to other rice producer countries,especially ones in the region like Thailand and Vietnam. All this time, Indonesiaimported rice that isnotproduced internally, especially special varieties, amounting12,000tonsperyear.Butinfact,Indonesiahavebeenimportingmorethan12,000tonsofriceperyearandit’snotlimitedtospecialricevarietiesonly.Tokeepthebalanceofpayment,Indonesiaexports100,000tonsofricethisveryyear8.Thegovernment’sdecisiontoexportricewasbasedonitspreviousstatementthatthenational riceneedswerealready fulfilled.Thegovernmentdoesn’t take intoaccountthe fact that thepeople’spurchasingpoweron rice is still lowandthewelfareof thepeasants is not improving as well. This condition happens because the governmentdefinesricepricebasedontheglobalmarketmechanism.Supposedly,thericepriceisdefined based on the national consumptionneeds (people’s purchasing power) andtheproductioncostofthepeasants.Riceshouldnotbeusedasmerelypoliticalcommodities.Itcouldbeclearlyseenthatthegovernment’sdecisiontoexportricewasonlypopularpolicythatisusedpolitically 6 SPI, 2003 7 Kompas, 13 December 2008 8 Kompas, 16 March 2009

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to face the 2009 general election, before the election also suddenly several partiesstated that the policy was successful in realizing Indonesia’s food self sufficiency.During the campaign before the election, there was a statement that Indonesiamanaged to reach rice surplus, based on this condition the government decided toexporttherice.Exportasapartoftradeprocesscouldbedone,butitalsohastotakeintoaccountthenationalconditionandthepeasants’welfare.Inanycase,Indonesiaactually had been exporting rice routinely, mainly premium quality rice, up to theamount of 100,000 tons – almost the same with the amount announced during thecampaign. Therefore, the exaggerated rice export was definitely used as merelypoliticalcommodityforthepoliticalpartiesandpoliticalelites;inthiscase,thepeopleandespeciallythepeasantsweretreatedasmerelyobjectsofpoliticalplay.Whentheexport ismanagedbytheprivatesector, theonewhowillgaintheprofit isdefinitelynot thepeasant.Thedecisionofgivingaway themanagementofexport totheprivatesectorwillonlyenrichhugecompanies.Other thing that needs to be criticized is related to the concept of Food Sovereigntyfrom the peasants which is regarding the government’s plan to decrease fertilizer’ssubsidybyinitiatingthe“GoOrganic2010”program.Thisprogram,althoughithasan‘organic’ labelwouldcreatepeasant’sdependenceuponorganic fertilizersproducedbyhugecompanies.TomakeiteasierforthepeasantsincomprehendingtheconceptofFoodSovereigntyandinrealizingit,SPIwillpublishaFoodSovereigntyGuidanceBookthatcontainstheappropriate mode of production and distribution to ensure the people’s rights tohealthy,goodquality,andaffordable foodproduced fairlyandgivingbenefitboth totheproducersandconsumers.*****

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National Agenda for the Institutionalization of the Rights of Peasants

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Serikat Petani Indonesia(Indonesian Peasant Union, SPI)initiated the Declaration of theRights of Peasants in year 2000 inNorth Sumatra, and then followedby the process in Cibubur,Indonesia. SPI is not onlystruggling to achieve anInternational Convention on theRightsofPeasants,butalsostrivingso that the Declaration of theRights of Peasants,which containsthe basic values and real

alternativestothecurrentneo-liberalagriculturalandfoodsystem,couldbeadoptedaspositivelawinnationallevel.Various efforts have been conducted by SPI during the previous years, includingvariouslobbiestogovernmentinstitutionsthathavethesameconcernupontheissuesuch as theMinistry of Law andHuman Rights,Ministry of Foreign Affairs and theMinistryofAgriculture.SPIalsoconductedeffortstogainsupportfortheInternationalConvention on the Rights of Peasants by creating alliances with other groups, forexample the IHCS (IndonesianHumanRightsCommittee forSocial Justice)andalsothe People’sMovement AgainstNeo-colonialism and Imperialism (GERAK LAWAN).SPI also has been conducting initial dissemination upon the issue to other people’sorganizationsinnationallevel.Besideslookingforexternalsupport,SPIalsoeducatesitsownmembers andofficialson theRightsofPeasantsup to the levelofbasis (thelowestleveloftheorganizationinthevillage).Theprocessconducted inorder togainingsupport fromthegovernmentwasstartedbylobbyingtheMinistryofForeignAffairs.Accordingtothedepartment,theeffortstoachieve the International Convention on the Rights of Peasants would be difficultbecausemostlythecasesofhumanrightsviolationsinIndonesiawererelatedtocivilandpoliticalrights insteadofeconomic,socialandculturalrights.Uptothepresent,therightsofpeasantsareincorporatedwithintheeconomic,socialandculturalrightsandtheprotectionsuchrelatedrightswasalsoguaranteedwithinthecovenantofsuchrights (ICESCR). Based on the latest communication conducted with the Ministry,SPI’scooperationisexpectedinthereportingmeasuresoftheviolationsofeconomic,

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socialandculturalrights.Thisisworthmentionedinordertoacceleratetheprocessofstate’ssupportfortheinitiativetowardaconvention.Asforthenextstep,SPIhasbeenstrivingtogainsupportfromtheMinistryofLawandHumanRights. Although therehasn’t been any formalmeeting conducted, personalcommunication isconstantlymaintained.According tooneof reliable resource fromtheMinistry,inordertogainstate’ssupportfortheinternationalconvention,acrucialstepthatshouldbedonebeforehandisrevisingtheLawNo.39year1999onHumanRights.AccordingtothetheLaw,peasantsarenotclassifiedasavulnerablegrouptohumanrightsviolations.Thegroupsthathavebeenclassifiedasvulnerablearenamelythe senior citizen, children, extreme poor, (pregnant) women, and people withdisabilities. In fact in our daily struggles, peasants –that make up almost 60% ofIndonesia's total population- are as vulnerable as the other groups to human rightsviolationsdefinedbytheLaw.In amore political sense, SPI also endorses KomnasHAM (the IndonesianNationalCommissiononHumanRights)inthestruggleforgaininghighcredibilityontheissueoftherightsofpeasants.Theaimisforanationallegitimacy,andinamorepracticalsensebecauseKomnasHAMisaNationalHumanRightsInstitutions,whichisalreadyintheinternationalhumanrightsmechanisms.Besidesthat,theNationalCommissiononHumanRightsisanindependentinstitutionthatcouldhaveabetterunderstandingofthetheissue,sinceithasalsobeeninvolvedhistoricallyontheissuesincetheyear2000. SPI also endorses Komnas HAM because of its formal functions, namely:mediation,denunciation,research,etc.Throughitsresearchfunction,SPIexpectsthatthe commission could produce an academic script that would serve as arecommendationtotherevisionofLawNo.39year1999onHumanRights.SPIandIHCS,inthestruggleforthenationallegitimacyoftherightsofpeasants,alsoendorse other constitutional revisions to prevent further constitutional rightsviolations –in particular human rights, especially the right to food and the rights ofpeasantsaswell.TheLawstoberevisedarenamelyLawNo.7year1996onFoodandLawNo.18year2004on(Agricultural)Plantation.Within the internal of SPI, dissemination on the issue to basis level has beenconducted since 2006 by giving special educations on the rights of peasants for thecadres(militante).In2009,SPIinnationallevelwouldalsoorganizeatrainingtocreatespecial cadres that could takeanactive role inmonitoringmeasuresandemergencyactionsupon the rightsofpeasantsviolationson the levelof regent,districtorbasis.*****