Vol.IX, No.

1, January-February 2012

SOLUTION FOR LAND CONFLICTS IN INDONESIA

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Editors Note: Chaos in Everything Solution for Land Conflicts in Indonesia The GKI Yasmin Case: An Effort fo Affirm the Existence of Groups

Editors Note

Chaos in Everything

he transition period in the global warming condition from now on to unpredictable future gives the clearest sign of chaos in our environment. Added with what has so far been done by human being it is seemingly that the signal is complete: the threat of inundation of many coastal parts of this country. Among those many parts, Jakarta is the worst. Sea water has been seeping far into Jakarta proper making the groundwater of Jakarta no longer fresh. People have to dig far deeper into the ground to get the drinkable water, especially in northern parts of the capital city. Not only underground, but above ground, the sea water level has been higher than the ground. The government of Jakarta has to build a wall along the coast to prevent the sea water flows into the coastal plain neighborhood. But here and there the wall has been punctured with a consequence that the sea water flows into the neighborhood unstopped. Garbage is another hazard for Jakartas life, including its marine biotas. The government of this province sees with bewilderment the mountain of garbage at Bantargebang, Bekasi, with no one knows what to do except stacking more and more garbage from Jakarta, reminding us of the Smokey Mountain near Manila, the Philippimes. The Jakarta Administration still cannot find a place or places to build a garbage factory to treat the garbage further, making it into

Publisher: A. Watik Pratiknya, Co-editors: Andi Makmur Makka, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Chief Editor: Siti Zuhro, Executive Editor: Mustofa Kamil Ridwan, Editors: Andrinof Chaniago, Rahimah Abdulrahim, Assistant Editor: Wenny Pahlemy, Copy Editor: Don Wilkey, Secretary & Layout: Aryati Dewi Hadin, Circulation & Production: Ghazali H. Moesa, Address: The Habibie Center, Jl. Kemang Selatan No. 98, Jakarta 12560, Indonesia, Tel. (62-21) 781 7211, Fax. (62-21) 781 7212, thc@habibiecenter.or.id, www.habibiecenter.or.id- No. ISSN 2087-1619
PostScript is published bimonthly by The Habibie Center. @2011 by The Habibie Center. All Rights reserved. Unless stated otherwise, all views expressed in PostScript reflect the views of the editorial staff. Inquiries on circulation and editorial correspondence should be addressed to PostScript editors.

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something else which is less hazardous. So far nothing could be done since no one outside Jakarta will let wholeheartedly their plot of land above which to be built the Jakartas garbage factory. Pollution is the main reason for their unwilling to sell their plot ti the Jakarta Province Administration. For some inhabitants of Jakarta especially those dwelling along the riverbanks of 13 rivers that flow through Jakarta, the only place to throw away their garbage is the rivers making them possibly the longest garbage bins in the world (remember once the head district of Pariaman, West Sumatra, Anas Malik, said that the coast of Pariaman is no other than the longest toilet in the world?) The rivers of Jakarta are far more horrible. It is there that the squatters throw away everything and use the rivers for everything else, including taking a bath complete with brushing teeth, wash their clothes, babies; the list is endless, you just name it. So when the global warming is fully working, parts of Jakarta, particularly its northern part, will be inundated by the sea water. The land of Jakarta is actually a long concave one from the north of the Presidential Palace down to the coast. This area contains the Chinatown (Glodok) which is very crowded. And everyday viewers can see the building and the promotion of luxurious apartment buildings along the coast to the west with the Pantai Indah Kapuk (Kapuk Beautiful Coast) is the central. Worse, the sucking of ground water in northern parts of Jakarta are uncontrollable for a long period, making parts of the land sink. What if the global warming is in full gear? Two or three meter the sea level rises means that the apartment buildings and the crowded neighborhood will be flooded; a gigantic task will have to be done if the government (Jakarta, Banten and the Central) must evacuate the inhabitants (in millions!!) Traffic jams? Of course. Everybody curses it, but nobody say anything about the flow of thousands of vehicles from towns around Jakarta (Bogor, Bekasi, Depok, Tangerang) and the churning of new tens of thousands of new cars and motorcycles everyday from factories around Jakarta. Nobody is able to provide a prescription to remedy the traffic jams that in the near future will make Jakarta clogged out by the vehicles which will make nobody able even to walk (since the sidewalks are full with vendors) let alone driving cars. Catastrophic signs have been looming threateningly above Jakarta and some people have been mentioning of moving the capital city into someplace else. One

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place that is considered suitable for a new Indonesian capital is Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan. But no discussion further. The issue has been brushed aside by other issues that are more current and need immediate solution. But Kalimantan is not a completely safe island from disasters. Flood is the one that inundate many parts not only in Kalimantan but also other islands. Concerning disasters the list is endless. Floods including flashflood and landslides are everywhere, destroying infrastructures (roads, bridges, and dont forget the cold lava floods from the recently erupted mountains which still threatens houses and roads as well as paddy fields at many areas in its current. The other is the land conflict connecting to the building of plantation (especially palm to make palm oil) and mining (coal), oil, minerals which has destroyed the environment (what mining is not?) which often in conflict with the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Energy, Mineral resources and Oil (ESDM), and the inhabitants in the location of mining and plantation. Land use conflict is something that has been going on for decades without any clear solution. Conflicts between the inhabitants and the military concerning a wide plot for military trainings are few examples. While corruption is a crime that has now gone into the next generation with the suspected corruptors become younger and younger (Gayus Tambunan is still in his thirties) with the sum involved is no longer millions but billions even trillions (the Century Bank case), the cases involving the great sum of money has been dragging people in political arena (legislative, executive, judiciary and the law enforcement members). Look into the number of members of the House of Representatives who had been jailed for receiving hundreds of millions each totheir chargesto smooth the way a high official of the Bank Indonesia to be a Senior Deputy Governor with billions of rupiah was flew into the hands of the MPs. This case is involving the wife of a former Chief of the Police as a kind of a go between. Ironically, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank is not (yet?) detained and still free of charge. The wife of the former Police Chief, on the other hand, has been detained and is undergoing trial. Another case is involving the former treasurer of the ruling party who is now on trial in connection with the building of the house for athletes for the last SEA

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Editors Note

Games. He is trying to drag the chief of the party, but so far in vain. While the case in nearly over, the party chief is still free. Now he is trying to get the party chief into another case. But the party chief has categorically swore, that one rupiah he stole in the Hambalang project , hang me at the Monas (the National Monument). With this kind of jumble mumble and ceaseless ironies in every sector, people can only scratch their heads: the poverty level will stand, and their money will only be scattered merely among the elites. -ooo0ooo_

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Politics and Human Rights

Solution for Land Conflicts in Indonesia

Inggrid Mustika, Researcher, The Habibie Center

he beginning of 2012 has been colored by a number of land conflicts which have spread to several regions in Indonesia. The latest land conflicts, in Mesuji, Lampung and South Sumatra, and Bima, Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, are related to the matter of the seizure of land between locals and private companies and for sure the government which produces the policies on land use. A number of seminars and researches have already considered the issues involved and have identified the root causes of recent conflicts. The causes of most of the conflicts are unjust policies, the socio-economic gap and competition over scarce resources. However, at the level of problem-solving, almost none of the concrete solutions have been successful in settling the conflicts. It might seem that the situations in the conflict areas were rapidly resolved, yet the proposed solutions have only been able to overcome the ice-berg level of the existing conflicts. There is no proper mechanism that is able to resolve the current conflicts at their roots. The situation surrounding conflict resolution in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) and Poso, Central Sulawesi, are exceptional. Honestly, both regions still contain the potential for conflict that may emerge in the future because peace is not a gift; it is a process that needs to be monitored and evaluated continuously in order to minimize the potential for conflict in the future. The success of the peace processes in both regions was because the conflicting groups were able to reach a compromise and the seriousness of the government

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to take concrete action to end the conflicts. The achievement of peace stability in NAD and Poso, Central Sulawesi, cannot be used as the reference solution for other conflict regions because every region has different social and cultural characteristics that are embedded in their societies. Therefore, the approach has to be established differently, by considering the local wisdom of the people and for sure involving all related stakeholders who are directly or indirectly affected by conflicts such as women, children, and other marginal groups. The recent political situation has allowed the people to ask for bottom-up solutions rather than top-down policy. However, money talks. Those who have direct interest in a scarce resource can buy the authority to protect their asset rather than build dialogue and communication with those whose rights are violated. There are several solutions that touch on the root causes of the conflicts where the main key holder of conflict management is the government, the institution that is the architect of the rules and regulations that seek to create social conformity within the society. First, the government needs to re-arrange the existing laws and regulations which overlap one another. This implies that the overlapping responsibilities maybe the cause of conflict. The licensing issue across sectors for example. There are overlapping licensing of plantation areas over the mining and forestry sectors which have happened due to the unfinished provincial spatial plan (Rencana Tata Ruang Wilayah Provinsi, RTRWP). On the other hand, the use of protected forests which are planned for the environment conservation function has been shifted to other functions that threaten environmental sustainability. According to the National Forestry Council (Dewan Kehutanan Nasional, DKN), the area that misuses the national spatial plan reaches 7.8 million hectares and this number continues to rise (Kompas, 2009). Economically, these problems have contributed to the investment target not being fully realized because investors have had to deal with long and complicated licensing procedures, compensation for land, and overlapping land use the cause of which is the overlapping licensing (Borneo News, 2011). Socially, the existence of investors often disregard the locals rights

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Politics and Human Rights

by unilaterally taking over land which is mostly traditional land and using as justification of having a license from the government. The surrounding community also often experiences the pollution effects which often neglected by the investors. These are the problems that lead to peoples dissatisfaction of the governments policies in favor of the investors. Second, there is a need to reform the function of the National Land Agency (Badan Pertanahan Negara, BPN). With the escalation of conflicts over land rights in Indonesia, a question mark arises over BPN, what exactly is the role of BPN in this context? Where is the BPN when land conflicts occur? As a nondepartmental government agency that is accountable directly to the president, BPN has the task to carry out government duties in the area of land at the national, regional and sectoral levels. BPN is supposed to be able to perform land management in Indonesia for the welfare of the people, able to solve disputes over land and able to re-structure the legal and land management systems in order to prevent disputes occurring. Yet, in many cases, the BPN acts on behalf of investors and sacrifices the public interest (Medan Bisnis Daily, 2012). Third, there is a need to synchronize the coordination of related stakeholders who have the authority to make policy. In this context, it is important to establish a continuous coordination between BPN, the Forestry Ministry, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the regional authorities and other related stakeholders to overcome the overlapping responsibilities which give rise to overlapping licensing. The crux of this problem is, as already happens and tends to be neglected, is the existence of a certified land dispute which is based on odd regulations, which are either contradictory or unclear. As a result, the people at the grass roots level always become the victims of biased regulation. In addition, in the light of regional autonomy, the regional government has the authority to establish local regulations which have an impact on the unavoidable overlapping regulations. Therefore, it is important for all stakeholders to sit together and set one regulation on licensing land use in order to avoid these overlapping problems. Fourth, the need to monitor the bills related to the issue of land use such as the Bill on the Procurement of Land for Public Interest Development; the

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Bill on Food, and the Bill on the Protection of Farmers which are currently at the Parliament. An effort to oversee the process of the bill deliberation is basically to avoid a counter-productive result to the welfare of farmers and to food sovereignty in Indonesia. Therefore, it is important to monitor the bills to be passed as laws to ensure that they benefit the society at large. Fifth, related to the people who are legally weak to fight for their rights regarding land conflicts, it is needed to provide legal assistance to these people. The main purpose of providing legal assistance to the people is to give them the appropriate solution to how they might propose their objection with a clear legal basis. In reality, several NGOs provide this type of assistance to the people, however, their action is more or less provocative in nature. However, there are those that do offer a proper assistance to the people but again, the people are facing the companies who hold legal licenses, and a strong justification for their existence. Therefore, close review over existing licenses is needed to make sure that the land use is basically in the public interest. And the last, sixth, the neutrality of law enforcement officers is essential in order to enforce justice to the people. However, law enforcement officers face difficulties in making action over license holders because each investor holding a license from a different institution are all legally valid (Majalah Tambang, 2012). As mentioned above, the establishment of one reference of regulation on licensing land use is crucial. The requirement to act procedurally in front of the people who demand their rights in land-related demonstrations becomes the concern of many people. Therefore, as the law enforcer and protector of the people, law enforcement officers must prioritize the public interest and maintain security and stability of the society to avoid human rights abuses. -ooo0oooReferences BPN, The Source of Land Conflict in North Sumatera, (BPN Sumber Konflik Tanah di Sumut), 17 January 2012, www.medanbisnisdaily.com Government Preparing Government Regulations in Lieu of Law to Overcome Overlap on Land, (Pemerintah Menyiapkan Perppu Atasi

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Tumpang Tindih Lahan), Kompas, 17 November 2009, www.kompas. Licensing Overlap Hampered Investment, (Tumpang Tindih Perizinan Hambat Investasi), 22 December 2011, www.borneonews.co.id Polri: Various Regulations on Licensing caused Conflict (Polri: Banyak Aturan Soal Perizinan, Sebabkan Konflik), 16 February 2012, www.
majalahtambang.com com

www.bpn.go.id

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Politics and Human Rights

The GKI Yasmin Case: An Effort to Affirm the Existence of Groups

Zamroni Salim, PhD, Research Fellow at the Habibie Center and Indonesian Institute of Science

he issue of establishing houses of worship is still a thorn in the relationship between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia. The latest case is the establishment of a church at Taman Yasmin Housing Complex (GKI Yasmin) on Jalan KH Abdullah Bin Nuh, Curug Mekar Village, West Bogor, West Java. Print and electronic along with online media are talking about the GKI Yasmin case and are presenting their own facts and arguments. Most of the general and mainstream media reported that the churchs community is forced to worship on the sidewalk since their church was sealed by the Bogor city administration. The media depicted the case as a prohibition of worship/human rights violation, intolerant and anarchist Muslims, and law disobedience of the mayor.

It is interesting and curious about what do the Islamic media say about the issue? Four Islamic online media, namely eramuslim.com, hidayatullah. com, suara-islam.com, and voa-islam.com saw the GKI Yasmin case as a violation of law, provocation by the Christians, and the Mayors authority. The Prohibition of Worship Vs Violation of Law The four media agreed to counter the opinion by saying that the GKI Yasmin case is a violation of the law, not a religious conflict (voa-islam.com). The

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problem of GKI Yasmin is purely a legal issue, the problem of the building permit (IMB) and is not a political problem (suara-islam.com). The case of the building of GKI Yasmin is a case of law, procedure violation, and the manipulation of peoples signature of approval done by GKI Yasmins side (eramuslim.com). he GKI case is a law matter. How could they get the permit, while local people never gave their agreement (hidayatullah.com). Violation of the law and the manipulation of signatures are the counter opinion put forth by the Islamic online media. The eramuslim shows the fact about a man named Munir Karta Bin Surakarta, the former head of the local neighborhood unit who was convicted by the High Court of Bandung on January 20, 2011 for manipulating peoples signatures for the Yasmin Church as a requirement for getting the building permit (IMB). It further writes: In doing so, Munir went to a few people and asked their agreement for the establishment of Hermina Hospital. However, Munir changed it into a permit for the establishment of the Yasmin Church. Munir also gave envelopes of Rp100.000 each to some residents for signing the paper. (eramuslim.com). The eramuslim wants to show that the current issue/problem talked about in the media didnt stand alone; that it has a long background. The community and the local administration would not necessarily close down the church if there were no falsifying of signatures in the establishment of the church. The four Islamic online media reply to the accusation of Muslims intolerance and anarchism; the eramuslim.com writes by citing residents: We do not reject people that want to worship, yet we will not accept anything that is started with dishonest ways and deception. There are simply no more than 5 Christian families living here. The rest of the congregation is from outside Yasmin Complex even from outside Bogor. It seems that the GKI Yasmin only provokes Muslims here and would build an opinion in the media as if they are forbidden to worship. (eramuslim.com) The hidayatullah.com also uses an interview with citizens to strengthen its argument:

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It seems that the GKI Yasmin provokes Muslims here and would build an opinion through the media as though they were forbidden to worship... Theyve been invited many times to meet and to prove legally who is guilty, but they did not want to (hidayatullah.com). Eramuslim and Hidayatullah set a counter argument that it is the GKI who deliberately makes provocation by doing its service on the sidewalk in order to be covered by the media and get sympathy from the public at large. Why would GKI Yasmins community insist on worshiping at the site when they already have a church in Jalan Pengadilan not far from here? Even, the local government has already offered an alternative place of worship. The two online media do quote others (motorcycle since their income reduces is closed by the security not only quote the residents, but also riders, taxi drivers) who are upset because the street they used to pass apparatus during the worship service.

Politics and Human Rights

Disobedience Vs Authority of the Mayor Mainstream mass media report the disobedience of Bogors mayor against the verdict of the Supreme Court which asked him to revoke the suspension of GKIs permit. Citing a number of parties, the media say that the case is caused by the disobedience to the existing law. How can the local administrations decision collide with the national legal decision issued by the Supreme Court? They ask why could we let or tolerate a local government which is disobedient and has harassed the two respected state institutions (The Supreme Court and the Ombudsman)? Who are exactly the residents who stand against the church and what are their numbers? Can it be that the residents objection be the justification to cancel an official government decision? According to Hidayatullah.com, the mayor of Bogor had implemented the Supreme Courts verdict, which was to revoke the suspension of GKIs permit on March 8, 2011, and then the mayor declared to revoke the permit on March, 11, 2011. According to the media online, there are three compelling reasons behind the revocation of the IMB, which are, firstly, a strong resistance from the public living around the location; secondly, to maintain stability and security from the provocation of GKIs community that persist to

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worship at the sidewalk every week, thirdly, falsification of support of local communities by the GKI Yasmin buildings committee (hidayatullah.com). Suara-islam.com responds to the opinion by citing the Islamic leaders who said that the GKI Yasmin was not honest because they did not reveal the real issue, namely the use of false signatures in the process of making the IMB. Because of the legally flawed IMB, according to the authority possessed by the Bogor mayor in this case, the IMB that had formerly been issued was later revoked (suara-islam.com). Voa-Islam also elaborated on the opinion that the process of GKI Yasmins building was full of lies. Voa-Islam pointed to the argument that the Bogor District Court had proven the existence of the manipulation of letters and the community signatures and therefore the judge convicted Munir Karta, last Thursday, January 20, 2011. Based on that fact, the mayor of Bogor repealed GKI Yasmins IMB through the Mayors Decision Letter No. 645.45-137 of 2011 on March 11 (voa-islam.com). Regardless of any growing issue related to the GKI Yasmin case, it seems that those Islamic online media tend to see and attribute the case to the issue of the faked signatures. They call it fake permit, legally false permit, wrong process and against the law, the manipulation of the license process and residents approval, and illegal church that breaks the law. At the same time, these online media are complaining about the unfair reporting by the mainstream media. They suspect that GKI Yasmin has provoked the residents by doing worship on the sidewalk, of taking the issue to the international community and makong Islam look anarchistic and violating the freedom of worship. They protest over such matters and of giving the impression as if the GKI is the victim and an oppressed minority. The readers of those Islamic online media give the same meaning to the case. One of them even warns that the real battle is with the interreligion community that promotes secularism, liberalism and pluralism. One reader quips that a number of Muslims speak up for GKI Yasmin and jeopardize the views of other Muslims who are defending their religion. Another reader writes about the pattern that Christians used to do in Muslim

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majority areas. They use their houses as the houses of pray by bringing congregations from other places and provoking other residents who were mostly Muslims. If resistance appears, they will bellow the opinion that Islam is intolerant, and how difficult it is to build places of worship in Indonesia, etc. Identity and Existence of Each Group Both the mainstream media and the Islamic online media blame and ask the government to immediately handle the case. The mainstream media says the government is afraid of the trouble makers and doesnt protect those who want to worship, as well as asking the Indonesian National Police Chief to crack down on the elements in the society that forbid anyone to observe their religion. Whereas the Islamic online media ask the security apparatus to work by anticipating the existence of provocateurs from both inside and outside Bogor that are willing to make trouble and to manipulate the situation. At the 2012 Military-Police Leaders Meeting in the auditorium of the Police College, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Friday (January 20, 2012), the President responded to the criticism. He said that the State did not keep quiet regarding the conflicts in the society in this era of democracy, openness and freedom. According to him, this country is looking for its own particular style of maturity (detiknews.com). Unlike the New Order, the aftermath of the New Order Government has no effective control and access to the entire elements of the community. In return, peoples access to the political space is more wide open now. In this era of political reform, the system of power began to spread. Each element of the community shows identity and asserts their existence before the State. Later on, the existence of this identity is important in the negotiation of interests and in the determination of who will be in charge of the resources. The same thing happened to the Islamic groups (without specifically mentioning any particular group) as one of the forces in the society. Through discourses that they are fighting for, they show their identity in front of the State. They use media, especially online, to contest the discourse of others. This has happened also for the Christian groups. They introduce the interests of their groups in some way to get a position in front of the State.

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This situation still becomes a homework for the State to solve the problems and be able to communicate, accommodate and consolidate each group for the betterment of Indonesia in the future. Thus far, there is no step nor systemic policy to resolve the problem. The government cant just wait and see each group in the society to be mature and wise by itself. Nevertheless, actually, the civil society, especially the religious-based ones, for instance Muhammadiyah and Nahdatul Ulama, and other mainstream civil society that represent religions in Indonesia can do something, for instance, by expanding the dialogue and cooperation at various levels of society, especially to the middle and lower levels. We can also urge for an effective role for Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama (FKUBIndonesian Religious Harmony Forum), whose existence is a mandate from SKB /SPB (Surat Peraturan Bersama) on the Establishing of Houses of Worship No. 8 and No. 9/2006 to multiple intraand interreligions dialogue in Indonesia.

-ooo-0ooo-

References Salibis Menikam Umat Islam Bogor (3): Ulah GKI Yasmin Menyulikan Rakyat Kecil, http://www.eramuslim.com/berita/laporan-khusus/salibismenikam-umat-islam-bogor-3-ulah-gki-yasmin-menyulikan-rakyat-kecil. htm, accessed January 4, 2012) Aparat Gagalkan Aksi Jamaat GKI Yasmin untuk Lakukan Misa Natal, http://www.eramuslim.com/berita/nasional/aparat-gagalkan-aksi-jamaat-gkiyasmin-untuk-lakukan-ibadah-natal.htm, accessed January 4, 2012) http://hidayatullah.com/read/20389/27/12/2011/warga-tampik-dianggaphalangi-ibadah-gki-yasmin.html, accessed January 4, 2012) http://hidayatullah.com/read/19890/23/11/2011/gki-diminta-tempuh-jalurhukum%2C-jangan-menebar-fitnah.html, accessed January 11, 2012) http://www.suara-islam.com/read3951-Banyak-yang-Tak-Paham-Persoalan-

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GKI-Yasmin.html, accessed January 11, 2012) http://www.voa-islam.com/news/indonesiana/2011/09/19/16143/kasus-gkiyasmin-bukan-soal-agama-tapi-pidana-pemalsuan-oleh-gereja/, (accessed January, 5, 2012) http://www.detiknews.com/read/2012/01/20/110259/1820793/10/sbybanyak-yang-latah-tuduh-negara-lakukan-pembiaran, accessed January 21, 2012)

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