57
In 2006, farmers and their organisation, Sundanese Peasant’s Movement
(Serikat Petani Pasundan [SPP]) realised that the Forest Corporation’s
collection of rent was illegal, and actions towards land reform could be
launched. The first move was to refuse to pay rent to the State Forest
Corporation. Instead, people paid 10,000 Rupiah (equivalent to a couple
of US dollars) per month to SPP and turned their presence into a land
occupation.
The West Java police commander and the Corporation director in
Jakarta decided to re-establish the Corporation’s control over the occupied forestlands by launching a so-called forest security operation funded
by the Ministry of Forestry. The operation was preceded by a joint reconnaissance for forest security control conducted in March 2008. The State
Forest Corporation provided the reconnaissance team with a detailed map
that indicated ‘forest security disturbances’. The team reported that
approximately 290 hectares of forestland were occupied by nearly 1600
villagers from four villages within the district.
Three months after this reconnaissance report was issued, the West Java
Police, the Ministry of Forestry and the State Forest Corporation launched
a forest security operation. The main objectives of the operation were to
re-establish control of the state forestland and to evict the people occupying it. The operation invoked the military terms, Security Operation and
Dangerous Area, echoing the Suharto era. Similarly, the use of terms like
‘illegal loggers’, ‘illegal occupiers’, ‘subversive’ and ‘anti-state’ established
an association between land occupation and organised crime. For a country the size of Indonesia, 290 hectares may seem trivial, but the significance of a successful occupation could be earth-shattering, literally
breaking new ground for further challenges to state authority.
Officers from the State Forest Corporation and the Provincial Police
came to Harumandala and its six kampungs, and more than 300 police
officers set up camp and began to prepare the evictions. The operation was
initiated by a ceremony, in which the police commander, the head of the
Corporation’s forest police and representatives from the local government
Forestry and Plantation Unit went through the objectives of the operation—namely, to find evidence of illegal logging, to evict illegal occupants
and destroy their farms and to remove any illegal construction from the
area. First, the police and the Corporation officers made house-to-house
searches for timber. Then, fields were ravaged and houses were burnt to
the ground. Some houses were left standing, but the police marked them
with chalk ‘This house must be destroyed by yourself’, or ‘This house and
5 A FEW REFLECTIONS ON ACCOUNTABILITY
In 2006, farmers and their organisation, Sundanese Peasant’s Movement
(Serikat Petani Pasundan [SPP]) realised that the Forest Corporation’s
collection of rent was illegal, and actions towards land reform could be
launched. The first move was to refuse to pay rent to the State Forest
Corporation. Instead, people paid 10,000 Rupiah (equivalent to a couple
of US dollars) per month to SPP and turned their presence into a land
occupation.
The West Java police commander and the Corporation director in
Jakarta decided to re-establish the Corporation’s control over the occupied forestlands by launching a so-called forest security operation funded
by the Ministry of Forestry. The operation was preceded by a joint reconnaissance for forest security control conducted in March 2008. The State
Forest Corporation provided the reconnaissance team with a detailed map
that indicated ‘forest security disturbances’. The team reported that
approximately 290 hectares of forestland were occupied by nearly 1600
villagers from four villages within the district.
Three months after this reconnaissance report was issued, the West Java
Police, the Ministry of Forestry and the State Forest Corporation launched
a forest security operation. The main objectives of the operation were to
re-establish control of the state forestland and to evict the people occupying it. The operation invoked the military terms, Security Operation and
Dangerous Area, echoing the Suharto era. Similarly, the use of terms like
‘illegal loggers’, ‘illegal occupiers’, ‘subversive’ and ‘anti-state’ established
an association between land occupation and organised crime. For a country the size of Indonesia, 290 hectares may seem trivial, but the significance of a successful occupation could be earth-shattering, literally
breaking new ground for further challenges to state authority.
Officers from the State Forest Corporation and the Provincial Police
came to Harumandala and its six kampungs, and more than 300 police
officers set up camp and began to prepare the evictions. The operation was
initiated by a ceremony, in which the police commander, the head of the
Corporation’s forest police and representatives from the local government
Forestry and Plantation Unit went through the objectives of the operation—namely, to find evidence of illegal logging, to evict illegal occupants
and destroy their farms and to remove any illegal construction from the
area. First, the police and the Corporation officers made house-to-house
searches for timber. Then, fields were ravaged and houses were burnt to
the ground. Some houses were left standing, but the police marked them
with chalk ‘This house must be destroyed by yourself’, or ‘This house and
5 A FEW REFLECTIONS ON ACCOUNTABILITY