Reforming the reformists: challenges to government forestry reform in post-Suharto Indonesia

This paper presents an overview of government and non-government efforts to reform forest management policies and practices in Indonesia. Particular attention is given to the question of local property rights within the state forest zone and emerging opportunities for local people to gain security of tenure. The past year has been a remarkable period of transition for Indonesia. Indonesians are currently nurturing a recovery from an economic collapse that, last year, brought a 17 % contraction of the economy. It is estimated that more than 8 million people lost their jobs. At the same time, the country is emerging from a 32-year period of political darkness. A democratic, multi-party system is slowly taking shape and, as recent elections indicate, the clear majority of Indonesians wants a clean break with the corrupt and politically repressive practices of the past. One area where the reform process is particularly charged is forestry. During the later half of the Suharto period, legal rights to extract large volumes of high value tropical timber were awarded to a tight network of Suharto associates and family members. Timber concessions and plantation rights were routinely given out in areas where local communities have lived, managed and depended upon forest resources for generations. Conflicts brought about by the government’s refusal to respect local property rights have increased significantly since Suharto’s resignation in May 1998, as has the ability of local people to project their problems and demands. As a result, moves towards securing local people’s rights are being taken more seriously by the Department of Forestry and Estate Crops. Local people’s organizations and NGOs however, say these moves are insufficient in that they focus on granting management rights to areas claimed by local people rather than recognizing customary community-based rights or hak ulayat.This paper reviews emerging options for local people to gain rights granted by government, as in the case of the Department of Forest’s nascent community forestry program, or to have customary (adat) rights fully recognized and secured. A background of the Indonesian setting is followed by a section on civil society demands for changes in forest management. This is followed by a brief summary of actual government forest sector reforms during year one of the post Suharto period. The remaining sections focus on property rights issues.

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