Political contestation,resource control and conservation in an era of decentralisation at Indonesia's Kerinci Seblat National Park

Since the fall of long‐time strongman Suharto and his authoritarian ‘New Order’ government in 1998, Indonesia has embarked upon a series of decentralisation and democratisation reforms. This new era of decentralised politics has come to be known as Reformasi and has significantly altered the political landscape of the archipelago as national and subnational levels of administration continue to contest the balance of power. Indonesia's national parks, which remain under the authority of the national government, have become arenas for negotiated encounters between local resource users, aspiring district elites and the national government. This essay explores three legacies of incomplete and unfinished decentralisation as they related to national‐park‐based conservation, using Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park as a case study.     

From Sabang to Merauke: Nationalist secession movements in Indonesia

Abstract: Popular movements in Aceh and Papua seeking separation from Indonesia must be understood in the context of earlier nationalist movements in history, including Indonesia's own movement for independence from the Netherlands. Movements in Aceh and Papua have built a sense of identity, considering themselves to be ‘notion‐states’ even if they are not yet nation‐states. This process parallels Indonesian identity formation in the early twentieth century. Aceh originally combined local, Indonesian and Islamic identities, but intrusion by central government institutions sparked a defensive nationalist reaction, which was stimulated further by uneven economic development and by repressive tactics by the centre. Papua was incorporated into Indonesia by means that led local people to believe they had been denied their right to self‐determination, spurring a historical sense of grievance and a collective identity of shared suffering much like that in Aceh. By the end of Sukarno's Guided Democracy and Suharto's New Order, both territories had passed a point of no return in their nationalism. Repressive tactics have failed to contain aspirations for independence; a new approach based on dialogue is needed.     

Finalising the nation: The Indonesian military as the guarantor of national unity

Abstract: The Indonesian military sees itself as the guarantor of national unity, the state's last line of defence against separatist movements. This paper argues that the military's methods for maintaining national unity have been counterproductive. Its counter‐insurgency wars in Aceh and Papua have exacerbated the sense of alienation from Indonesia that the people in these provinces have felt. In this post‐Suharto era of political reform, the military has been unable to recognise that its old methods have failed, even after its obvious failure in East Timor, whose people, after living under a 24‐year military occupation, rejected continued integration with Indonesia in a referendum in 1999. The fact that the politicians in the legislative and executive branches of the state have tended to encourage the military to persist with its old methods suggests that the military by itself should not be faulted. Only political resolutions, such as the Helsinki agreement for ending the conflict in Aceh – an agreement that resulted more from the devastation of the December 2004 tsunami than from the Indonesian military's counter‐insurgency warfare – offer any guarantee of national unity.     

The Environment

The 1990s represented a decade of immense changes in environmental management in New Zealand. This paper outlines the challenges of implementing the widespread reforms started in the 1980s. In terms of the environment, reforms came in the form of a large volume of new legislation and a new system of decentralised planning and management. This paper discusses these changes in the context of a shift toward a new environmental paradigm. Key issues and initiatives of the 1990s are discussed which address sustainability, integration, environmental leadership, and public involvement. Specific strategies are outlined in reference to biodiversity, which has been identified as New Zealand's most pervasive environmental issue. Ongoing challenges for the future include how to better involve stakeholders to incorporate alternative values in decision making.     

Resource periphery,corridor, heartland: Contesting land use in the Kalimantan/Malaysia borderlands

The long borderland in Kalimantan between Indonesia and East Malaysia is partly mountainous and environmentally unique, its three national parks forming the core of a tri‐nation ‘Heart of Borneo’ initiative proposed by environmental NGOs and ratified in 2006. More accessible lowlands in West Kalimantan and the north of East Kalimantan constitute a typical ‘resource periphery’ in which strategic considerations, persisting through the Suharto years, now intersect with a range of new political, economic and cultural demands. A perception by the central government of increasing lawlessness in the borderlands arose in the turbulent years following Suharto's fall, during ‘reformasi’ and the beginnings of decentralisation. In addition to smuggling and illegal logging, contests over land use erupted at various scales. Proposals to construct an oil palm corridor along the border, begun by the Megawati government and extended by some sectors of the Yudhoyono regime, were part of a quest for greater legibility and control on the part of the central authorities. The paper specifically examines the power struggles that arose over that project and its inevitable outcome, a central government back down. However, the current palm oil boom is bringing new corporate planting, which may eventually succeed in ‘taming’ the borderlands.     

Urban poverty alleviation strategies in Yogyakarta,Indonesia: Contrasting opportunities for community development

A multidimensional understanding of poverty includes the access of poor groups to decision‐making processes based on their needs and aspirations. However, the realisation of this ‘right to make decisions’ faces multiple obstacles. Over the last 20 years in Indonesia, in a context of a more democratic political environment and policy decentralisation, poverty alleviation policies have followed institutional arrangements to provide communities with opportunities for greater participation in development projects. Poverty data show a clear improvement in the living conditions of urban poor citizens in Indonesia; however, it is unclear whether poor communities have become stronger and more independent from public grants and better able to make their own decisions. This research analysed two urban poor communities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and found that some communities working on participatory poverty alleviation strategies still face obstacles to becoming more independent and making their own decisions because they remain part of an historical legacy of top‐down approaches to poverty, highly dependent on government support and working only within ‘invited spaces’. Conversely, those communities with more limited access to government funding have been more innovative in their strategies and have created ‘invented spaces’ for collective action that allows them to be more independent and empowered.     

Southeast Asia's transboundary haze pollution: Unravelling the inconvenient truth

This paper examines the political intricacies inherent in the management of Southeast Asia's transboundary haze pollution. It argues for a scalar perspective in understanding the complexities of the haze problem. The so‐called ‘inconvenient truth’ is unravelled by teasing out some issues in the national and regional political ecologies, and the challenges of synchronising co‐operation at the national, regional and global scales. Discussion shows that the ‘environment’ takes on different meanings at each scale, and both Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) need to recognise this in order to engage more effectively with the transboundary environmental issue. Specifically, inadequate management of forest resources in Indonesia, ASEAN's principle of ‘non‐interference’ and a lack of a holistic ecosystem perspective are amongst some of the interconnected issues addressed. The paper calls for a greater awareness of structural weaknesses in the management of forest resources and a change in ASEAN's environmental paradigm to a more holistic ecosystem perspective that prioritises not just environmental and human health, but also a healthy and sustainable ecosystem.     

The plot thickens: Land administration and policy in post‐New Order Indonesia

Abstract: The turbulent events in Indonesia during the closing years of the 20^th century prompted the reopening of public discussion on many longstanding issues of social and economic reform. Land reform is one of many agendas that have preoccupied policy makers, scholars and activists as the nation attempts to reinvent itself in the wake of the collapse of the 32‐year New Order government of ex‐President Suharto. This article examines some of the main debates swirling around the issue of land management and policy during the post‐Suharto ‘reformasi’ period, and provides illustrations of current problems and emerging trends. The article begins with a brief overview of land law and policy in Indonesia, followed by a discussion of its philosophical and ideological basis. This is followed by a discussion of government reform during the New Order period and beyond, and the social and environmental costs of Indonesia's development. The discussion then turns to efforts to decentralise government, and implications on land admin‐istration and policy. Case study examples are provided to illustrate the complex dynamic unfolding across the country.     

中国-印尼玉米产业科技合作进展及展望

为了提升印度尼西亚国家玉米产业发展水平,服务国家“一带一路”、“科技服务外交”等国家战略,执行国家科技部对发展中国家科技援助项目,山东省农业科学院玉米研究所开展了印尼本土化玉米育种、新品种与新技术集成和玉米产业科技园区建设等项目内容。利用黄淮海优异种质与印尼富含热带资源种质组配了育种基础材料,育成的10份玉米优异杂交组合正在参加印尼国家玉米品种审定试验;实现了山东省第一次境外农业技术培训班和玉米现场观摩活动,高产栽培技术集成创造了印尼雨季玉米13.70 t/hm²的高产纪录;建成的50 hm²中国-印尼玉米产业科技园区,正在为印尼玉米产业的快速发展发挥重要作用。通过科企合作模式,发挥国内农业企业优势,将中国的玉米新品种、新技术引进到印度尼西亚,将会加速印尼玉米产业发展水平,为国家科技外交和“一带一路”战略服务。     

Slashing and burning: developmental transformations of population-environment relationships in Indonesia

There is growing concern that rapid development may be doing irreparable harm to life support systems and the environment throughout much of the Asia Pacific region. This paper briefly examines how the development policies of the New Order government of Indonesia have transformed the way the country exploits and manages its environmental resources.     

Social movements,environment, and technology in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry

This paper examines community, environmental, and human rights activists’ influence on adoption of environmentally-friendly technologies in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry. The story begins with conflict over the development of an export pulp mill in North Sumatra in the 1980s and continues with the adoption of environmental technologies in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry in the 1990s. Organising around a number of specific events associated with pulp industry development, activists drew attention to the industry which led to a strengthening of government environmental regulation and enforcement, and hastened the adoption of cleaner production technologies.     

Infrastructure and politics: Why the Belt and Road Initiative proceeded differently in Malaysia and Indonesia

The article seeks to understand the different types and sources of politicisation as well as the consequences for Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects. It is argued that while the personalised insulated type of foreign policymaking is conducive to intra-system politicisation, the institutionalised responsive type is associated with extra-system politicisation. While the former type is contingent on political turnovers and brings about abrupt shocks, the latter oftentimes generates societal pushback from socio-economic groups. The article focuses on two flagship Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects in Malaysia and Indonesia. Based on fieldwork interviews and process tracing, the article finds that the East Coast Rail Link project in Malaysia has suffered from high risk of political interruption owing to Malaysia's personalised insulated type of foreign policymaking, whereas the Jakarta–Bandung High Speed Rail project in Indonesia has encountered sustained obstacles from Indonesian society and brought about substantial delays under Indonesia's institutionalised responsive type.     

Media in Indonesia: Forum for political change and critical assessment

Abstract: This paper reviews the struggle for freedom of the press in Indonesia from the colonial period until 2006. First, the paper examines press initiatives and restraints placed on these during the colonial period, followed by those during the period of Sukarno. Then, the paper questions Suharto's efforts to censor the press during his presidency drawing on the author's personal experiences working as a journalist in Jakarta during this period. More recent governmental changes are then analysed with regards to the press and questions raised regarding how far this emancipation has enabled journalists and the mass media – especially the popular press – to live up to what some argue is their responsibility, to serve as a forum for political change and critical assessment. The paper questions if newspapers in Indonesia have been successful in reaching in practice, their mottos of implementing press freedom, and it debates whether announcing that one is ‘working on the people's behalf’ is the same as maintaining ‘press freedom’. I conclude with case studies that raise questions regarding whether, in the present political climate, a newspaper can really be free from government interference in Indonesia.     

Trading in waste: Integrating sustainable development goals and environmental policies in trade negotiations toward enhanced solid waste management in Pacific Islands countries and territories

This paper provides a broad survey of existing literature on contemporary solid waste management (SWM) in the Pacific region to underscore an urgent and compelling need for improved SWM. Despite advances in waste management systems and funding for technical support and capacity building from a range of sources, waste continues to threaten public and ecological health and the economy in Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (PICTs). SWM in the Pacific requires innovative thinking in a challenging environment of remoteness, limited available land, fragile ecosystems, vulnerability to natural hazards and subsequent climate sensitivity. Many PICTs are under considerable pressure to open their markets up to trade liberalisation. Increasing links to the global economy through trade liberalisation could either further exacerbate waste management challenges in the Pacific or contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development goals. The authors argue that if the PICTs' urgent waste management challenges are to be meaningfully addressed, the region's leaders must ensure trading partners conform to local environmental protection policies and that trade agreements align with sustainable development goals.     

Isozyme variation in taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) from Asia and Oceania

Summary Isozyme variation was studied in 1,417 cultivars and wild forms of taro collected in Asia and Oceania. Seven polymorphic enzyme systems (MDH, IDH, PGI, 6-PGD, ME, SkDH, and ADH) revealed 143 isozyme phenotypes, or zymotypes, each uniquely characterized by the presence or absence of 56 electromorphs. Results showed greater isozyme variation in Asia than in Oceania, with Indonesia being the area of greatest diversity. No correlations were found between zymotypes and morphotypes or ploidy levels (as described by other investigators). Multivariate analyses of the isozyme data indicated that the majority of the Indonesian cultivars were different from the Philippine and Oceanian taro cultivars. Oceanian cultivars constituted a continuum of clusters and are thought to have originated from a narrow genetic base introduced from Indonesia. If taro breeding is to have any future in Oceania, it is important to exchange genotypes to broaden the base of existing breeding programmes.     

Sites of infrastructure,apprenticeship and possibilities for self: Locating Indonesia's missing women in representative politics

Women are under-represented in Indonesian legislatures, and those women who are elected are disproportionately from ‘elite’ backgrounds. This research sought to understand the conditions for women to succeed in politics in conditions of patriarchy and clientelist politics. Research in North Sumatera, Indonesia, revealed that many women did not make the conscious decision not to enter politics, but rather found that they had not established the required preconditions earlier enough in life. Patriarchal social norms and a transactional political culture frustrate women's ability to acquire these conditions, yet they are also subject to change. Interviews with women elected representatives and women who had never contested an election revealed three sites that are critical to women either acquiring the preconditions to contest elections, or frustrating that pathway: the household, the ‘community’ and religious/ethnic associations. We demonstrate how women's actions in these sites transform the conditions to make them more conducive to women's political participation.     

Culture and the commodification of water in Samoa

While ‘solutions’ to challenges of water supply in the Pacific may seem obvious to hydrologists, engineers and planners, their implementation may not be straightforward. Water is embedded in cultural, religious and political contexts, and what seems obvious to planners may seem neither obvious, nor acceptable, to citizens. However, these contexts change continuously, and opportunities arise for changes in narratives around ownership, supply and management of water. Citizens' beliefs about the state's ‘rights’ will vary with societal context, and will shape the ways in which ownership and management of water is worked out in specific locations. This paper outlines thinking and discourses around ownership and management of fresh water in Samoa, and the constraints which culture has imposed on water supply over time. Water discourses have shifted from questions about ownership of specific sources to general discussions about conservation and management of natural resources. This shift has resulted, in part, from the ways in which government has managed the process and, in part, from growing public awareness of water within the larger environmental context. The paper focuses on Samoan material, but some of the generic issues have wider significance in the Pacific because similar variables combine in similar ways.     

Popular discourse on identity politics and decentralisation in Tanjung Pinang public schools

Abstract: This paper explores the discrepancies between the official rhetoric on Malayness and the emerging discourse on national identity among the urban Malay (Melayu) youth of the Indonesian province Kepri. The population of the Riau Archipelago is multiethnic, with Malays as the majority and Kepulauan Riau represents an important historical centre for the whole Malay World. Because of this, local leaders have engaged this newly formed province in a series of attempts to revitalise a transnational ethnic awareness based on an inclusive Malay identity framework. However, most of the students I met during my recent fieldwork in Tanjung Pinang’s public schools tend to reject most ideas of reinforcing the bridge with the Malays of neighbouring nations, and prefer to perceive themselves primarily as Indonesian. This should not come as a surprise. Since 1998, the popular culture scene has been largely influenced by reformasi movements all over Indonesia. For the Tanjung Pinang youth, urban Indonesia, represented especially by Jakarta, is synonymous with dynamism and democratisation, while Malaysia and Singapore are regarded as moralistic and patronising.     

Creative Industries and Regional Productivity Growth in the Developing Economy: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines the degree to which creative industries stimulate regional productivity growth in a developing country, Indonesia. The Indonesian government promotes long‐established “traditional” craft businesses as creative industries, but they pay less attention to new knowledge creation and focus on highlighting heritage values as selling points. Our findings show that the “real” creative industries are still scarce and found mostly in fairly advanced urban regions. These industries are more likely to be an indicator than a driver of regional economic development. Meanwhile, those traditional businesses are much larger than creative industries and potentially contribute to regional productivity through consumption activities, thereby requiring different policy strategies.     

西北地区生态风险态势及预测

为了给政府部门的土地、水资源利用规划和环境保护决策及管理提供依据,基于情景分析思想,假定不同的经济发展政策,分析了西北地区生态风险变化趋势。采用AHP方法建立了生态风险预测指标和模型,进行了西北地区风险预测。结果表明,西北地区人口、国民经济、水资源、土地资源以及自然灾害潜在生态风险依然存在,生态环境及响应生态风险有减小趋势。因此,只有采取区域均衡发展,西部生态环境恶化态势才能遏制,社会经济发展、资源、环境可望良性循环,生态风险才能降低。