Jakarta Globe – AFP, Olivia Rondonuwu, February
5, 2014
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Kajang men holding bamboo trees at Amatoa village where the Kajang tribe live
in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, on Aug. 12, 2013. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry) |
Tana Toa,
South Sulawesi. Deep in a remote forest in the Indonesian archipelago, the
Kajang tribe lives much as it has done for centuries, resisting nearly all the
trappings of modern life.
Their
lifestyle has drawn comparisons with the Amish in the US, but they live in even
more basic conditions, residing in houses on stilts and dressing only in black
sarongs and headdresses.
It is in
stark contrast to even many rural areas of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy,
where the rapid growth of the middle class has led to an explosion in the
number of vehicles on the streets and people with smartphones.
But fears
have been growing in recent years that the traditions of the Kajang, who live
in a densely forested area called Tana Toa on the central island of Sulawesi,
are increasingly vulnerable.
Officials
worry there is little protection for the forests considered sacred by the tribe
in a country where environmental destruction is rampant and that a sudden
influx of technology could overwhelm their way of life.
Now the
local government in Bulukumba district is hoping it can use a recent ruling by
the Constitutional Court (MK) as a launchpad to grant the Kajang the right to
manage their own forests, instead of it being owned by the state.
Tribal
rights group AMAN said it would be the first area in Indonesia to use the court
ruling to grant an indigenous group such autonomy — a milestone in the fight
for the rights of the country’s approximately 70 million tribespeople.
‘Make this
earth last longer’
The attempt
to help the Kajang is driven by outsiders and the tribe itself harbors some
suspicions about any sort of external interference in their affairs.
However the
so-called “ammatoa”, or chief, Puto Palasa said he did not object as long as
the effort did not change the tribe’s traditional ways, and recognized the
attempts to help his beloved forest.
“Preserving
the forest will make this earth last longer,” Palasa, who has never set foot
outside the Kajang’s tribal heartland and has received no formal education,
told AFP.
“Leaves
invite the rain to fall, roots are home to springs, the forests are the world’s
lungs,” he added in his native language called “Konjo”.
Signs of
modernity are undoubtedly creeping in to the land of the Kajang, who number
around 5,000, with the majority strictly following the tribe’s traditions,
according to a local government official.
On a recent
visit to Tana Toa, AFP saw some of the young Kajang clutching mobile phones
while others were wearing sandals — the most ardent followers of tribal
tradition prefer to go barefoot.
 |
Kajang women carrying buckets of water at Amatoa village where the Kajang tribe
live in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, on Aug. 12, 2013. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry) |
Nevertheless
much remains as it has done for centuries. Scores of men were seen lifting
enormous tree trunks to build a traditional house while candlenuts, an oily nut
which burns for a long time once lit, are the only lights at night.
The Kajang
even has its own mini-government, made up of 37 “ministers”, including an
agriculture minister who tells people when and where to plant their crops by
studying the stars.
They dole
out punishments — which include fines and caning — for infringements of their
rules, such as removing a tree that has fallen naturally or catching shrimps
from rivers, activities the tribe believes create imbalances in the ecosystem.
Little is
known about the tribe’s origins or how long they have been around but they
claim to be one of the first peoples on earth, and say they are duty-bound to
protect their ancestral lands. Their religion is a mix of tribal beliefs and
Islam.
Their total
land covers around 760 hectares (1,900 acres), while the area of forest
considered “sacred” — the tribe’s heartland — covers some 330 hectares,
according to research group the World Agroforestry Center.
Controlling
destiny
Bulukumba
officials fear this ancient way of life could be wiped out if the Kajang are
not given the right to manage their own lands, a move they believe would
encourage the tribe to preserve its traditions.
They hope
to use the court ruling passed in May as the basis for a local bylaw to give
the Kajang this right.
The ruling
said that indigenous people owned forest on their ancestral lands. Previously
the state claimed ownership of all the country’s forests.
As with
many such rulings made centrally in Indonesia, it still needs to be applied
locally. Bulukumba officials argue the decision gives the Kajang the right to
manage all their densely-forested land.
The latest
draft bylaw seen by AFP says that the land can be only traded among the Kajang.
Officials hope it will be passed in the coming months.
As well as
giving the Kajang more control over their destiny, the bylaw would also
overturn an official decision taken in the 1990s to allow some logging on their
land.
In reality
the only logging in the area since then has been carried out by the Kajang
themselves, who allow small numbers of trees to be cut down in certain areas
for purposes such as building homes.
Officials
fear this could change at any moment — many tribes across Indonesia have lost
their rainforest homes due to logging.
Bulukumba
forestry chief Misbawati Wawo says that in areas of the district outside the
Kajang’s lands, there has been widespread logging to make way for clove, cocoa
and coffee plantations.
“Our
concern is if we don’t make a written bylaw to protect these people, who can
guarantee their traditions will still exist in 20 to 30 years?” she told AFP.
Agence France-Presse
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