58
land is not yours but the property of the state’. Finally, the police forced
the villagers to sign a statement in which they renounced their membership of SPP and declared they would never join again. It is well worth
recalling that this took place almost a decade into the post-New Order
democratic era, and that SPP was a legal organisation.
After the police operation, people resumed the cultivation of their plots
within the area but moved to kampungs outside of the State Forest
Corporation area for a couple of years. By 2010, people had begun to
move back to the abandoned kampung of Pasir Pilar within the
Corporation-controlled area. People reconstructed their houses; and
within six months, some 34 families had re-established themselves in the
kampung. The local SPP chapter drew up a map of the area, registering
each plot and its owner.
The State Forest Corporation contacted the settlement, but now with
a new approach. They announced a planting ceremony of mahogany trees
and invited villagers to witness. An area was cleared and 1000 seedlings
were planted in rows. Each row was publicly named after a government
institution. Thus, the first row was named, ‘the row of the provincial governor’, the next, ‘the row of the police commander’, ‘the row of the
Indonesian army’ and so on. The intention, no doubt, was to impress
upon the people of the area that these resources belonged to and were
under the protection of the entire government structure of Indonesia. The
State Forest Corporation had the whole episode filmed. The following
night, however, all 1000 mahogany seedlings were uprooted. People
remained in their kampungs on the disputed land; they resumed farming
their plots and rice fields, and they continued not to pay rent to the State
Forest Corporation. They were not beholden to the Corporation or the
Indonesian government for their land rights. Instead, they held land
thanks to ‘the republic’ of SPP, with the opportunities and dangers
this implied.
As people moved back into their settlement, they asked the official local
territorial administration—the village office—for new ID cards that would
reflect this change. This was done. By that token, the settlement became
an official kampung, situated within the area that the State Forest
Corporation claimed to control as forest. Moreover, as people registered
to vote for the 2014 elections, officials from the sub-district would visit all
houses and place an official government sticker on the door with the name
of the voter, and place of residence—their new official kampung.
C. LUND
land is not yours but the property of the state’. Finally, the police forced
the villagers to sign a statement in which they renounced their membership of SPP and declared they would never join again. It is well worth
recalling that this took place almost a decade into the post-New Order
democratic era, and that SPP was a legal organisation.
After the police operation, people resumed the cultivation of their plots
within the area but moved to kampungs outside of the State Forest
Corporation area for a couple of years. By 2010, people had begun to
move back to the abandoned kampung of Pasir Pilar within the
Corporation-controlled area. People reconstructed their houses; and
within six months, some 34 families had re-established themselves in the
kampung. The local SPP chapter drew up a map of the area, registering
each plot and its owner.
The State Forest Corporation contacted the settlement, but now with
a new approach. They announced a planting ceremony of mahogany trees
and invited villagers to witness. An area was cleared and 1000 seedlings
were planted in rows. Each row was publicly named after a government
institution. Thus, the first row was named, ‘the row of the provincial governor’, the next, ‘the row of the police commander’, ‘the row of the
Indonesian army’ and so on. The intention, no doubt, was to impress
upon the people of the area that these resources belonged to and were
under the protection of the entire government structure of Indonesia. The
State Forest Corporation had the whole episode filmed. The following
night, however, all 1000 mahogany seedlings were uprooted. People
remained in their kampungs on the disputed land; they resumed farming
their plots and rice fields, and they continued not to pay rent to the State
Forest Corporation. They were not beholden to the Corporation or the
Indonesian government for their land rights. Instead, they held land
thanks to ‘the republic’ of SPP, with the opportunities and dangers
this implied.
As people moved back into their settlement, they asked the official local
territorial administration—the village office—for new ID cards that would
reflect this change. This was done. By that token, the settlement became
an official kampung, situated within the area that the State Forest
Corporation claimed to control as forest. Moreover, as people registered
to vote for the 2014 elections, officials from the sub-district would visit all
houses and place an official government sticker on the door with the name
of the voter, and place of residence—their new official kampung.
C. LUND