Democratisation of Indonesia

From the late 1960s to the 1990s, Indonesia was under a dictatorship helmed by Suharto. Under this rule, forest management was solely under the state, and forests were seen as a resource ripe for commercial exploitation to boost Indonesia’s economy. Locals reported that Suharto often employed the military to expand logging areas, even going as far as to intimidate locals in order to clear the land for timber harvest operations. However lucrative the timber industry was, Suharto’s government was well-known for its corruption and any economic benefits were likely usurped by the governmental elites.

Fast forward to the late 1990s, Suharto’s regime was overthrown and Indonesia was ushered into a new democratic regime marked by initial political instability. While this removed the pressure exerted onto locals regarding forest management and rights, the new regime possessed many legislation gaps which logging companies were keen to exploit.

Logging concessions and increased participation in forestry management

Several new changes were introduced under the new government and forest management regime. Firstly, district governments were allowed to participate in forest management schemes with their local areas, which includes the issuing of concessions and small logging permits. Secondly, prior to any plantation/logging operations, it is mandatory for companies to negotiate with village locals to agree on operational boundaries and compensation benefits. Finally, in addition to the abovementioned criteria, a strict set of permits and regulatory documents have to be obtained before a company can begin its operations.

While such changes gave locals and villages significantly more autonomy and freedom to participate in managing forested land under the protection of the law, the lack of strong enforcement, gaps in legislation and limited manpower allowed companies to skirt on the edges of the law by agreeing on weak compensation schemes, conducting operations across poorly defined land boundaries, or flat-out ignoring the law altogether in the case of illegal logging. This results in many instances of conflict between companies and locals.

Occasionally, such skirmishes escalated into acts of violence incited in response to logging operations perceived as illegal.  One such conflict occurred in the Bape village within the Bungo district, Central Sumatra, where a disagreement over the boundaries between state forests and community forests escalated into local villages intimidating logging workers with acts of violence and arson.