The politics of environmental protection in Indonesia PDF

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CENTRE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES Working Papers Working Paper No. 48 THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDONESIA by R Cribb MONASH UNIVERSITY CLAYTON 3168 AUSTRALIA . / Working Paper No. 48 THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDONESIA by R Cribb Published by The Centre of Southea...

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CENTRE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES

Working Papers

Working Paper No. 48 THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDONESIA by R Cribb

MONASH UNIVERSITY CLAYTON 3168 AUSTRALIA

. /

Working Paper No. 48 THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDONESIA by R Cribb

Published by The Centre of Southeast Asian Studies Monash University Clayton Victoria Australia 3168

National Library of Australia ISBN 0 86746 861 0 ISSN 0314 6804

1988

©

Copyright : no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission.

THE POLITICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDONESIA

by Dr. R. Cribb

There was a time when environmental issues did not enter the political agendas of Third World countries.

Environmental protection,

it was often argued, was a luxury which had to give way to the pressing demands of economic development and nation-building.

The 1970s and

80s, however, have seen a dramatic and unexpected increase in government attention to environmental issues throughout the Third World.

As recently as 1985, one writer on environmental issues in the

Third World commented that ... the prospect of changing attitudes in the Third World to a 'post-materialist' approach in time to preserve significant portions of lowland and montane rainforest and mangroves is negligible.... [F]or the next decade or two our basic strategy needs to be to ensure that Third World governments receive material incentives that will enable their countries to prosper as much by protect\ng significant natural ecosystems as they would by destroying them. This pessimistic prognosis can now clearly be seen as mistaken.

Not

only conservation but issues of deforestation, pollution, town planning and many more are now addressed directly by government policy in many developing countries.

It may appear to outside observers that the pace

of environmental degradation has increased rather than abated, but environmental considerations have now become an element in Third World government decision-making. 2 Earlier versions of this paper were presented at seminars at Flinders University and the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University. The present version has benefited considerably from the discussion which followed those seminars and from the helpful comments of David Chandler, Tom Cribb and Gavait Daws. 1John Cartwright, 'The politics of preserving natural areas in Third World states', The Environmentalist 5 no.3 (1985) , p. 182. 2A useful discussion of this phenomenon is H. Jeffrey Leonard and David Morell, 'Emergence of environmental concern in developing countries: a political perspective', Stanford Journal of Inter1

Three factors help to explrun this phenomenon.

First is that the

force of environmentalist arguments has at last begun to be felt.

The

economic and social costs of environmental degradation are becoming clearer, and governments are adjusting their policies pragmatically. 3 Second, economic development and nation-building have proceeded to the point where the luxury of environmental protection can be considered. This can be put in another way:

rising affluence in some sections of

Third World societies has generated the characteristically middle-class concern for the environment which is found in the West, and governments are sufficiently responsive to public opinion to modify their policies. A third reason, less commonly recognized, is that environmental issues have become a convenient vehicle for other political struggles.

Such

struggles may have little to do directly with environmental issues, but environmental concerns may be mobilized as powerful weapons in the service of one side or the other.4 The evolution of conservation policy in Indonesia provides a useful illustration of the interaction of these factors . By conservation I mean a rather specialized aspect of environmental protection, the preservation of animal and plant species and varieties in their natural habitats, generally under the protection of an inviolate national park or similar legal arrangement.

Between 1975 and

1985 conservation policy in Indonesia underwent a dramatic transformation from a listless and neglected inheritance of Dutch national Law 17 no. 3 (1981), pp. 281-313. See also Kilapati Ramakrishna, 'The emergence of environmental law in the developing countries: a case study of India', Ecology Law Quarterly 12 no.4 (1985), pp. 907-935. 3For a cogent analysis along these lines, see R. Michael Wright, 'Morne Trois Pitons National Park in Dominica: a case study in park establishment in the Third World', Ecology Law Quarterly 12 no.4 (1985), pp. 747-778. 4A striking example of this motivation was Argentina's declaration of national parks over potentially disputed territories along its border with Chile. See Wright, ibid., pp. 767-768. 2

colonial rule to a dynamic element of national development strategy. It has done so, moreover, partly at the expense of Indonesia's powerful logging interests. Government performance in conservation matters, therefore, has implications for other areas of environmental policy which endanger corporate profits, and this is significant for the conduct of Indonesian politics in general. For the first thirty years after independence in 1945, Indonesia's conservation policy was largely the one inherited from the Dutch. Dutch policy in turn had three strands. A major focus of conservation was the protection of individual animal species. This concern had been prompted first by enormous hunting pressure on birds-of-paradise in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and led to the first protection ordinance of 1905. This was subsequently extended, first by the partial protection of other species such as elephant and rhinoceros, and from 1916 by the creation of game reserves (wildreservaat) in which the hunting of animals was restricted. A Netherlands Indies Society for Nature Protection, formed in 1912, lobbied the government to extend protection, legal and practical, to other species and sites. 5 Most game reserves were under the authority of the Forestry Service of the colonial Department of Economic Affairs, though the Depok reserve was administered by the Nature Preservation Society and the Cikepuh reserve in West Java was run by the hunting association Venatoria, and in the other islands reserves were the responsibility variously of the colonial government and local ·rulers. The large Kutei game reserve, for instance, was declared by the Sultan of Kutei in

5K.W. Dammerman, Preservation of wild life and nature reserves in the Netherlands Indies (Weltevreden?: Fourth Pacific Science Congress, Java, 1929), pp. 2-20; J.H. Westermann, 'Wild life conservation in the Netherlands Empire, its national and international aspects', in Pieter Honig and Frans Verdoorn, eds, Science and scientists in the Netherlands Indies (New York: Board for the Netherlands Indies, Surinam and Curacao, 1945), pp. 418-420.

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1936.6

The extent to which reserves were given actual protection

varied substantially.

Many were vaguely defined and unpatrolled.

when caught, poachers were often only lightly punished.

E ven

In game

reserves that were managed more carefully, on the other hand, concern for the welfare of particular species often led to an interventionist management style.

New species such as banteng were often introduced

for hunting purposes and extensive areas within the reserves were cleared to create suitable habitats for the larger grazing animals. The numerous open grassy areas, or padang, found today in the national parks at Ujung Kulon and Pangandaran are a consequence of this intervention. 7 On the whole, restrictions were not placed on the cutting of firewood or the collection of forest products by local people, as long as this did not directly affect the well-being of the game. A second element in Dutch conservation strategy was the declaration of so-called natural monuments (natuurmonumenten).

These

were generally a good deal smaller than game reserves and aimed at the protection of tourist sites.

Tourism in the Netherlands Indies, which

began soon after the abolition of the travel permit system on Java and Madura in 1902, focussed to a much greater extent than is now the case on the natural phenomena ·of the archipelago.

Tourist guide books of

the period list volcanic craters, mountain lakes, boiling mud pools and spectacular views as the primary objects of tourism on Java, alongside the inevitable antiquities.

Climbing mountains on foot, on horseback

or in sedan chairs was popular enough in colonial Java to lead to the 6westermann, 'Wild life conservation', pp. 418-422; Dammerman, Preservation of wild life, pp. 21-33; W. Soegeng Reksodihardjo et al., Preliminary report on investigation of the Kutei Nature Reserve, East Kalimantan. Indonesia (Bogor: BIOTROP, 1974), p.14. 7 A. Hoogerwerf, Udjung Kulon: the land of the last Javan rhinoceros (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 13-21, 63-69; Effendi A. Sumardja and Kuswata Kartawinata, Vegetation analysis of the habitat of banteng (Bos javanicus) at the Pananjung-Pangandaran Nature Reserve, West Java (Bogar: Biotrop Bulletin no 13, 1977), p. 10.

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publication of a guidebook devoted exclusively to that topic, Ch. E. Stehn's Gids voor bergtochten op Java (Guide for mountain expeditions on Java). 8 An active mountaineering association (Nederlandsch-Indische Vereeniging voor Bergsport) included important figures from the colonial establishment and, though there is no evidence that it lobbied directly on conservation matters, it reflected the interest of colonial society in natural tourism. 9 With some of the smallest of Java's 64 natural monuments no more than half a hectare in area, however, and the smallest consisting of a single tree, many were far too small to protect ecosystems, though the monuments were often better protected against the cutting of firewood and other exploitation than were the game reserves. 1O A third element in Dutch conservation strategy was the preservation of biologically rich areas for scientific research. Foremost of these was the reserve established originally in 1889 on the slopes on Mounts Gede and Pangrango, southeast of Bogor, which backed onto the Cibodas botanical gardens.

Here a succession of eminent

8([Batavia]: Nederlandsch-Indische Vereeniging voor Bergsport, 1930). See also Come to Java (Weltevreden: Official Tourist Bureau, 3rd ed., ＱＹＲｾＭＷＩＮ＠ 9see Nederlandsch-Indische Vereeniging voor Bergsport, Mededeelingen 12-15 (Jan. 1936-Dec. 1937). Well-known names appearing as contributors to this journal include the administrator Ch.0. van der Plas, the historian J.C. van Leur, the journalist J.H. Ritman, and the botanist C.G.G.J. van Steenis. This list suggests, as one might expect, that interest in natural history and nature protection was associated with the so-called 'Ethical' stream in Dutch colonial thinking, but this matter remains to be investigated. A brief bibliography of twentieth century travel guides, mainly dealing with Java, can be found in Catalogue 39 (n.d. [1987?]) of the Antiquariaat Gemilang, Landsmeer. This catalogue includes an early work by the later Lt Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies, H.J. van Mook, Gids voor Tosari en het Tenggergebergt (Koog aan de Zaan, 1916). 10The Getes nature reserve near Semarang consisted of a single tree, the easternmost specimen of-Dipterocarpus hasseltii. For a detailed description of the more important reserves in the Netherlands Indies, see Dammerman, Preservation of wild life. 5

botanists and zoologists conducted some of the most important biological work in the archipelago. 11 Conservation was never a significant issue for the nationalist movement, though it occasionally attracted a little attention.

Members

of the Volksraad, the elected assembly of the Netherlands Indies, which included both Indonesian and European representatives, voted unanimously in 1930 to urge the colonial government to establish more game reserves and to protect important species of animals both inside and outside reserves. 12 More popularly, however, restrictions on hunting and woodcutting were regarded as another example of Dutch colonial oppression, and there was probably a broad feeling that the country's natural resources should be exploited for immediate economic benefit rather than preserved for what were perceived as aesthetic reasons.

Independent Indonesia's constitution, adopted in 1945, laid

down that 'Land and water and the natural resources contained therein shall be controlled by the State and shall be made use of for the people' (Art.33 [3]).13

Although this article is not irreconcilable

with conservation, it was not a principle which directly encouraged conservationist attitudes, and the much later 1982 Basic Law on the Environment, discussed below, specifically repudiated the idea that caring for the environment was unconstitutional. The declaration of independence was accompanied by a widespread exultation in release from the restrictions of colonial rule, and hunting pressure on wildlife increased dramatically.

This was

especially so during the late 1940s when sizeable bands of guerrillas moved about the less accessible parts of Java and Sumatra attempting to 11 see 'The Tjibodas biological station and forest reserve' in Honig and Verdoom, Science and scientists, pp. 403-416. 12westermann, ' Wild life conservation', p. 420. 13The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ([Jakarta]: Department of Information, 1968).

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live off the land.1 4

This pressure continued, though to a lesser

extent, during the political disturbances of the 1950s and 60s.

There

was a lively trade in Indonesian wild animals, protected and unprotected, both for restaurants in Jakarta and elsewhere in the region and for zoos and private collections in other parts of the world.

Some of this trade was probably technically legal under

regulations which allowed Indonesian zoos, public and private, to export animals under exchange programmes with other institutions.

Much

of it, however, was almost certainly a part of the extensive smuggling trade of that period, conducted by army commanders, civilian bureaucrats and Chinese businessmen. 15 Natural monuments, nature reserves and untouched forest land did not fare well either after 1942.

Under the Japanese, extensive areas

of forest, both planted and natural, were cleared for agriculture; during the revolution the Dutch blockade of Republican Java led to a critical fuel shortage and the widespread cutting of forests for fuel. 16 The same pressures, for agriculture and firewood, remained the principal threat to reserves in the 1950s and early 60s, and in this period some of the smaller reserves on Java, such as Dungus Iwul near Jasinga and Rawa Danau in Banten, virtually disappeared. Bureaucratic responsibility for conservation remained vague. Reserves, as before, were the responsibility of the Directorate-General of Forestry, now within the Department of Agriculture.

Responsibility

for conservation matters, however, was divided between a small, 14Hoogerwerf, Udjung Kulon, pp. 21, 64. In an interview in Jakarta in 1982, a former member of one guerrilla unit told me of an occasion when his unit killed a tiger in the Purwakarta area of West Java. The meat, he said, lasted them for days and cured their skin diseases. 15Hoogerwerf, Udjung Kulon, pp. 21-23; Flora Malesiana Bulletin (hereafter FMB) 30 (1977), p. 2806. 16R. Soepardi Poerwokusumo, 'Perjuangan Kemerdekaan', Perpustakaan Angkatan '45, manuscript collection no IX/66, pp. 8-9. 7

ineffective technical section of the Forestry Directorate and the Institute of Nature Conservation at the Botanical Gardens, based in Bogor. The Gardens were generally able to protect the nearby GedePangrango reserve above Cibodas, but lacked the budget or the personnel to do more than sponsor occasional reconnaissance expeditions to other reserves. A further obstacle was the fact that the enforcement of conservation regulations was largely in the hands of local military and civil authorities who saw no value in protection of wild animals or forest areas. During Indonesia's Confrontation with Malaysia in the early 1960s, for example, the armed forces proposed to turn Ujung Kulon, the last habitat of the Javan rhinoceros, into a military training area. The establishment of a separate Department of Forestry in 1964, however, with its own division of Nature Conservation and Wildlife Management was an important step towards remedying this confusion and giving conservation a voice within the bureaucracy. Training programmes in conservation were begun at both the Forestry School and the Agricultural Institute in Bogor. The first new reserve since 1941 was declared in 1966, covering the island of Komodo. Preliminary plans were drafted, too, to develop reserves once more as tourist attractions. More important, military and police forces were given clear instructions to cooperate with conservation authorities and not to take part in illegal hunting. How much attention they paid to these orders is not clear, but the fact that orders were issued at all was a landmark. 17 In 1967, however, all this was overtaken by a dramatic increase m pressure on Indonesian forests with the start of extensive logging 17Hasan Basjarudin, 'Problems of national parks and reserves in Indonesia and emerging countries' in Lee M. Talbot and Martha H. Talbot, eds, Conservation in tropical South East Asia (Morges: International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 1968), pp. 387-388; Conservation News S.E. Asia (Bangkok) 5 (Jan. 1965), p. 42; 7 (1966), p. 55; Colin Groves, 'Wildlife reserves in Indonesia', Indonesia Circle 14 (Nov. 1977), pp. 13-14; Prijono Hardjosentono, 'Nature conservation in Indonesia', mimeo, 1976?, p. 3; A. Hoogerwerf, 'Nature protection in Indonesia', Oryx 2 no. 4 (n.d.?), pp. 221-223.

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operations.

The New Order government of President Suharto, which had

come to power in 1966, sought a massive infusion of capital by means of foreign investment, and it proceeded to grant logging concessions over large tracts of forest, especially in Kalimantan and Sumatra. The firms involved included the state logging corporation Perhutani (later Inhutani), established Indonesian firms and a number of joint ventures between Indonesian and foreign firms.

The foreign partners in these

ventures were usually well-established logging firms such as the American giant Weyerhaueser.

Their Indonesian counterparts were often

newly established, contributed no capital to the venture and belonged to business friends and military members of the ruling elite. In many cases the actual logging was done by contractors, rather than by the concession-holders themselves.

Timber became the country's second

largest export earner after oil.

By 1973 Indonesia was exporting some

18 million cubic metres of timber annually, most of it to Japan, receiving for it an average of US$7 per cubic metre through taxes and resource rents and considerably more through incidentals such as banking fees . The logging industry thus not only bolstered Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves but served the important function of providing a means for the distribution ...