Access to Land- Married to the Job. [Coal Asia Vol.50- Dec-Jan 2015]

Access to Land – Married to the Job.

There are credible stories of post war exploration geologists being welcomed in remote villages with the offering of a wife in keeping with some traditions reserved for honored guests. In the 80’s and 90’s exploration geologists were relatively free to roam the land, and often openly greeted as welcome rare guests in far off villages and hamlets. Today such welcomes are becoming fewer, and more seem to be one of suspicion and extortion.

Stories to tell.

Exploration geologist, or mine construction teams, have many interesting stories to tell about land access issues. At a river port construction project in Kalimantan one farmer appeared in the middle of the construction and produced a paper written in ancient Arabic, claiming heredity right to much land, and held his bush knife (parang) high to emphasize his claim. This triggered numerous local government officers to pass the buck around wherein the district parliament eventually made a resolution. In another Kalimantan location, two Region Heads (bupati) issued overlapping coal concessions over the same prospective ground. Each bupati had his official map showing they controlled the same area. A very long and tedious legal battle ensued, wherein each bupati sent delegations to the villages to strengthen their claim. The village people were amazed, as this was the first time a government official, from any branch of government, had visited them. More recently the people of Batam experienced the vagaries of the government, with towns, businesses and civil buildings suddenly being reclassified as restricted forestry zones.

Village perspective.

From the remote village perspective there have been waves of failed promises from outsiders, particularly those from far away big cities. While exploring for gold in Central Kalimantan I heard that some time back the Government wanted to build an airport at Sanggu, to serve Buntok and the region. The Jakarta contractor engaged most of the village to get gravel from the river and pound it into the ground for the runway. They were paid on time for the first month, but a little late for the second, and even later for the third month. Then no more money came, and the contractor said that he would get paid by the government only when the airport was complete. The whole village worked for several more months and eventually the airport was opened. But no money came. The village struggled to send a representative to the contractors Jakarta office, where they were told that the contractor had sent his man with a bag of cash to pay the village some time before. The contractor argued that he had already paid the village, and had no more money left from the project. I guess the sudden ban on ore exports or the Lapindo case indicate this form of mistrust continues today.

Insight.

Insight into the outlook of remote communities can sometimes be triggered from the most unusual sources. The study in environmental anthropology titled “Transforming the Indonesian Uplands – Marginality, Power and Production” edited by Tania Murray Li is about the changing histories and identities of the upland people as they relate in new ways to the natural resource base, markets and state. Some upland people see the lowland (coastal & urban) people as bonded / enslaved to their limited life style, with government controlled price of fertilizer and government controlled price of rice. They are ever subservient to the roaming government officer, who produces nothing. In contrast the upland people often see themselves as truly free enterprise, growing a mix of food and changing cash crops (coffee, rubber etc) depending on the market, and snubbing any effort to make them subservient to useless government officials. Indeed we can imagine that some such officials find it easier to deal with the more responsive town people, than use limited resources to reach out to the remote farmers. The Government often makes maps denoting areas for forestry, mining without adequate consultation.  This is the subtle approach for the government to press its will upon the remote villagers to recognize the Government institutions and thereby start the subversion process. An example of this subtle government pressure is given on page 194 as “Official maps offer a strict separation of settlement, on the one hand, and territorial division, on the other. They show settlement as a dot rather than a territory. Even huge villages with dozens of small, scattered settlements are depicted as a single dot. This dot represents stability, and thus the administration appropriateness, of settlement; no village can claim legitimacy without its dot. But a dot takes up no space. In contrast, territorial divisions are marked in official maps for land use, forest classification, concession areas and the like. Settlements may be sketched in on these maps, but they are for place identification not territorial claims. They offer villagers no rights.” This book also points out that the remote people may be more responsive if they could see some direct benefit from government, say easier access to markets for their cash crops. So the arrival of an exploration geologist claiming some right of access can now appear as a challenge to the local peoples’ freedom, and a reference to the district government structure may alienate the geologist further. But the arrival of the exploration geologist also presents a one-off business opportunity for the free enterprise people, who now have a TV to see how the rest of Indonesia’s business works.

It would also seem that the government is using the exploration and mining companies as its proxy to promote the governments authorities reach into the remote areas. And when the exploration company calls upon the government for assistance in explaining its access for exploration rights to the people, then there is an expectation that the company shall bear the government officers travel costs etc.The exploration and mining companies may end up paying for the implementation of the law.

When a company geologist or mine developer enters a district it may appear to management that they are entering a sleepy backwater. Often there are intense conflicts for status or power going on much of the time. In the book “Uma Politics– An ethnology of democratization in West Sumba, Indonesia 1986-2006” by Jacqueline A.C. Vel an interesting insight into village politics is derived from a dispute over the foster daughter’s pregnancy (p107), wherein an “apparent strategy in Uma politics is to seek support from the higher level officials, through any kind of network available”. The networks include religion, kinship, local and regional government officials, and NGO’s. In the same book the review over the public elections reveals the nature of social capital in attracting public support (p216). “Cultural Capital could be divided into traditional cultural capital that appears in social ranking and familiarity with Sumbaneseadat, and secondary the cultural capital that is acquired through education and appears in academic titles and professional experience. Fame with regard to religion could also be regarded as part of cultural capital.” Economic Capital can include “land, livestock and labour, and it is the type of wealth associated with higher nobility”, and can be associated with trade or a “strategic position in the bureaucracy”. Social Capital can also be “capital derived from networks outside Sumba that support political power.” The author concludes “that not only the quantity of capital is decisive in winning elections, but also whether the amount is a balanced composition of the different types of capital.”In the book “Guardians of the land in Kelimado – Louis Fontijnes study of a colonial district in eastern Indonesia” (Flores) edited by Gregory Forth, the long introduction provides an insight to village respect. “Prestige was required because real credit to the community naturally brings acknowledgement by the community”. Gregory Forth also provides an outline of the first Dutch colonization wherein they sought out a person that could speak Malay from one of the largest and most influential clans and appointed him as their representative, effectively raising his stature significantly. Unfortunately a rival clan felt this honor and status should have been to them, and so a long lasting conflict was born.

So an outside company wishing to establish itself in an area may be able to optimize their considerable “influence and capital” in many different areas, provided they understand how best to interact with the village and regional politics. I think very few exploration and mining companies engage anthropologists or sociology graduates in their ongoing community development teams. Perhaps the study of geology should contain a few units of anthropology and sociology.

LousiFontijne’s final chapter is on the decline of the traditional tribal authority and structure with the onset of the new Dutch administration, and Christianization. Although his study is set in the 1940’s there are a number of observations that may also apply to today’s era of Regional Autonomy. The introduced Dutch authority system of kampong being subordinate to the district that in turn was controlled by the region was essentially monarchical, replacing small autonomous village councils of collective authority. The removal of the justice system from the village elders to the Dutch government “enabled people to withdraw from the deliberations of the traditional leaders, and turn to the new judicial authority instituted for this purpose, has radically undermined the traditional authority.” “Collectively administering land disputes with traditional communities…lost importance and urgency since, owning to the pacification of the territory, the implicit threat of war over disputed maters began to disappear.” The importance of having a justice system that brings peace and prosperity is fundamental to the acceptance from the community. In applying this principal to an Exploration Company’s access to land, it is imperative that the Government be proactive to educate the people on the divisions of rights for above ground farming and below ground minerals.

More stories.

Sometimes all is not so peaceful in the exploration or construction areas, and it is only when you enter the region do you sometimes find yourself in the middle of a local feud. In one gold exploration project up in the mountains south of Padang our exploration camp was between two villages. It turned out those villages were having a long drawn out conflict. One night young men from one village would sneak the few kilometers to the other village and throw away all the sandals left outside the house steps. This would be retaliated a few nights later with burning down a small unused shack, and so on. In another case a village in upstream Barito was divided with the families at one end of the village in conflict with the other end. Here there was an invisible line within the village where people could not cross. At another site in remote East Kalimantan our 4WD car was parked in a village at the end of a very rough track while the geologist walked a day to the site. On return he found the car impounded by tribe from a distant village. They were using the car as a bargaining point about their conflict with a third village. After a week we could get the geologist out, and it took another month to extract the car. So gaining access to land to conduct exploration may have unexpected dimensions.

Pay for what?

The exploration and mining companies are obliged to pay an environmental guarantee bond to ensure the companies carry out acceptable reclamation. To place this acceptance of commitment on an equal footing between government and industry, and in developing new regulations, perhaps the exploration companies payment of dead rent and land tax should be placed in an escrow account, to be released to the government, when the government works with the company to achieve adequate access to land.

Back to the beginning.

The old custom of offering a wife to encourage an outside guest into their clan has merit. It binds the man to continue to invest in the district, and to take on a deeper sense of responsibility for his commitment. The village wins as the new source of wealth may stave of famine in the hard years, and bring joy and status to the community in good years.