Kategori: Regenerasi Pengelolaan SDA

Learning to Manage the Environment from Indigenous Peoples

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Indigenous people have their own local wisdom in protecting the environment and managing their natural resources. BRWA (2009) states that forests located in indigenous peoples’ territories are of good quality. Seeing this, the local wisdom should be an example for wider community, especially young people in protecting the environment.

On July 25, 2020, Relawan4Life, a youth movement assisted by RMI, conducted an online discussion called Disaring through Zoom, entitled “Learning to Manage the Environment from Indigenous Peoples “. The purpose of this online discussion was to invite other young people to get to know the local wisdom possessed by indigenous peoples.

This discussion was led by Febrianti Valeria, a student of Political Science at the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI), who is also a member of Relawan4Life. This time, it presented two speakers who were indigenous people, Abah Maman Syahroni from the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous Community, Banten and Pengendum Tampung from the Indigenous People of Orang Rimba, Jambi. The online discussion was attended by 24 people, consisting of 12 men and 12 women and discussed on how indigenous peoples live in harmony with nature.

Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih

Abah Maman said that there are various kinds of local wisdom that are owned by the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous People, and the main local wisdom is the rukun tujuh, because the life of the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous People centered around farming. Rukun Tujuh is a process of traditional rituals of planting local varieties of rice (pare gede) carried out by the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous People, such as asup leuweung (the traditional ritual process of clearing agricultural land collectively); nibakeun (customary ritual process of asking permission and praying to start sowing seeds); ngubaran (traditional ritual process of treating rice plants from pests), mapag pare beukah (the process of traditional rituals asking for good agricultural products); beberes/mipit (traditional ritual process of requesting permission to harvest rice); ngadiukeun (traditional ritual process of bringing rice into the traditional rice barn/leuit); and Serentaun (traditional ceremonies asking for fertility and prosperity for the next harvest).

When planting rice, the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous People do it together, and the rukun tujuh will be the guidance to oversee every agricultural process carried out by the community. This was done so that the community did not overtake each other when planting rice, which resulted in a continuous pest cycle (pests reproduce throughout the year due to continuous availability of food).

Another local wisdom is ronda leuweung (guarding the forest). According to Abah Maman, one of the duties of the ronda leuweung is to ensure that the forest is kept intact and that there is no illegal logging. Abah Maman said the person in charge of the ronda leuweung is usually chosen by the customary head.

Abah Maman emphasized that what the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous People were doing was to maintain food security and strengthening community groups, so that people would preserve the values ​​of the karuhun (ancestors).

Legally, the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih customary community has been recognized by the local government with the Lebak District Regulation No. 08 of 2015 concerning Recognition, Protection and Empowerment of Kasepuhan Indigenous Communities.

Abah Maman said that the Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous People are not a group of indigenous peoples who are completely closed to the outside world. An example is that in Pasir Eurih, formal education is well received by the community. 

Orang Rimba

Pengendum said that the Orang Rimba are a group of indigenous people who live in the forests of Bukit Dua Belas Jambi. The daily life of Orang Rimba is to hunt and gather forest products. Even so, the Indigenous People of Orang Rimba take forest products responsibly, if they want to eat today, they only take the forest products for today, because the Indigenous People of Orang Rimba are worried that if their natural resources are taken excessively, their food will run out.

Pengendum said that the Indigenous People of Orang Rimba have a traditional conservation system which is still upheld today. For example, there are locations that are considered sacred, such as tanaperana’on (a location for childbirth) which is specially protected, so that the trees around the location are not cut down. The location for giving birth to each child will also keep changing.

Apart from the location for giving birth, there is also a location for a funeral. When someone dies, the Indigenous People of Orang Rimba will build a house to store their corpses, and the house is surrounded by trees, where these trees cannot be cut down. This aims to protect the bodies of those who died.

Pengendum also explained that the Orang Rimba Indigenous People are also required to guard two trees for each giving birth to one child. This leaves many trees that are not cut down, and are protected. Because the more children are born, the more trees are maintained.

Apart from the forest, the indigenous people of the Orang Rimba also preserve the river, such as not defecating near the river, or bathing with soap. The Speaker said that apart from damaging the river, the indigenous people of the Orang Rimba believed that the river is a path traversed by gods. If the river is damaged, the gods will be angry.

The speaker also explained that long before the pandemic, the Indigenous People of Orang Rimba were already familiar with physical distancing. The Indigenous People of Orang Rimba call it besesandingon, that is, when someone is sick, that person must isolate himself from family and other communities. This is to prevent transmission of the illness.

So much local wisdom of indigenous people that contributes to the environment. Quoting a comment from one of the participants from Disaring, “indigenous peoples are the answer to our various problems, we should also learn from them”.

Please click the following link, to view Disaring 6.0 – Learning to Manage the Environment from Indigenous Peoples. https://youtu.be/PbbTH5OZ9rM

Author: Siti Marfu’ah

Translated by : Alfina

Jadi dan Menjadi Masyarakat Adat: Suara Anak Muda Adat

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“Bagaimana kamu memandang identitasmu sebagai masyarakat adat di masa kini, disaat modernisasi, terutama teknologi informasi dan digitalisasi telah semakin mengubah cara kita berinteraksi dengan lingkungan kita, dan lebih jauh telah mempengaruhi cara kita memandang sesuatu, termasuk kontribusi pada stigma yang melekat pada masyarakat adat dan mereka yang bergantung pada sumber daya alam? ” “Menurutmu apakah Kamu masih menjadi bagian dari masyarakat adat saat Kamu menggunakan teknologi yang tidak digunakan orang tua dan leluhurmu di masa lalu?” “Menurutmu, apa yang membuatmu menjadi bagian dari masyarakat adat? Dan apakah artinya itu ? ”

Berangkat dari kehidupan sehari-hari pemuda/i adat, pertanyaan-pertanyaan semacam ini dirancang dengan cermat dalam program berjudul “Being and Becoming Indigenous”—atau “Jadi dan Menjadi Masyarakat Adat” untuk memberikan ruang bagi generasi muda dari empat komunitas adat mendiskusikan persepsi mereka sendiri tentang ke-adat-an mereka di tengah modernitas. Beberapa pertanyaan tersebut sebenarnya tercermin dari pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang sering dilontarkan oleh masyarakat non-adat kepada pemuda/i, mempertanyakan identitas mereka sebagai bagian dari masyarakat adat. Pertanyaan-pertanyaan seperti ini yang kontradiktif dan jarang dibahas telah membingungkan para pemuda/i ini.Karena persimpangan antara kehidupan mereka yang berbasis tradisi/adat dengan modernitas jarang sekali dibahas, maka arah perubahan yang mungkin terjadi pun tidak terencana dengan baik.

Anak muda adat Mollo, Timor Tengah Selatan, Nusa Tenggara Timur.
Sumber foto: Lakoat Kujawas

“Being and Becoming Indigenous”—atau “Jadi dan Menjadi Masyarakat Adat” merupakan program pemberdayaan generasi muda adat dengan memberikan ruang bagi mereka untuk memahami akar dan makna tradisinya, terutama tentang tata kelola sumber daya alam, di tengah kehidupan modern. Selain hal tersebut di atas, program ini juga bertujuan untuk memperkuat persepsi pemuda/i tentang adat yang berimplikasi pada partisipasi pemuda/i ini dalam mereproduksi praktik mata pencaharian berbasis komunal mereka kedepannya. Keempat komunitas Pemuda/i adat ini adalah Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih di Kabupaten Lebak, Provinsi Banten, Mollo di Kabupaten Timor Tengah Selatan, Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur, keduanya berada di Indonesia, dan Agta-Dumagat-Remontado di Filipina akan berkesempatan untuk mendefinisikan identitasnya sebagai bagian dari komunitas adat meskipun hidup dan terhubung, termasuk secara digital, ke dunia modern. Para pemuda/i akan mendapat pengalaman di ruang belajar bersama ini guna memahami makna menjadi masyarakat adat selama delapan bulan ke depan.

Program ini dikelola oleh RMI-the Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment bekerja sama dengan Asian Farmers Association for Rural Sustainable Development (AFA) dengan pelaksana lokal adalah Lakoat Kujawas di Indonesia, dan PAKISAMA di Filipina. “Being and Becoming Indigenous” adalah sebuah program yang didukung oleh program VOICE.

Semoga dalam prosesnya Anak muda-anak muda adat ini dapat mempersepsikan identitas mereka sebagai bagian dari budaya pemuda/i global sembari tetap berpegang pada akar tradisi mereka!

Being and Becoming Indigenous: Voice of Indigenous Youth

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“How do you perceive your identity as being indigenous in present days, when modernization, especially information technology and digitalisation have further changed the way we interact with our surroundings, and have further influenced the way we see things, including to contribute to the stigma attached to indigenous communities and those depending on natural resources?” “Do you think you are still indigenous when you use technology that your parents and elders did not use in the past times?” “What do you think that makes you indigenous and what does it mean?”

Drawing from daily lives of indigenous youth, these kinds of questions are carefully designed in a project titled “Being and Becoming Indigenous” to provide space for youth from four indigenous communities to discuss their own perception on their indigeneity in the midst of modernity. Some of these questions are actually reflected from questions that are often being asked by the non-indigenous persons to the youth, questioning their identity as part of indigenous communities. These kinds of questions have left these youth confused as these kinds of seemed-to-be-contradictions are rarely discussed. As these crossroads between indigeneity and modernity of indigenous youth’s identity is rarely discussed, the directions of changes that are likely to happen are not well-planned.

Indigenous Youth of Mollo, in South Central Timor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. Resource: Lakoat Kujawas

The “Being and Becoming Indigenous” is a project to empower indigenous youth by creating a space for them to understand their roots and the meaning of their traditions, especially on natural resources governance, in the midst of modern life. This project also aims to contribute to strengthening the youth’s perception on indigeneity that implies to these youth’s participation in reproducing their community’s communal-based livelihoods practices in the long run. Youth of four indigenous communities namely Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih in Lebak Regency, Banten Province, Mollo in South Central Timor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, both located in Indonesia, and Agta-Dumagat-Remontado in the Philippines will experience the opportunity to define their identity as being part of indigenous communities whilst living and be connected, including digitally, to the modern world. Co-learning space will be enjoyed by these youth to understand the meaning of being and becoming indigenous in the next eight months.

This project is led by RMI-the Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment in collaboration with Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA). Acting as local implementers are Lakoat Kujawas in Indonesia, and PAKISAMA in the Philippines. “Being and Becoming Indigenous” is a project supported by VOICE programme.

Please the process of these indigenous youth in perceiving their identities as part of global youth culture whilst also rooting in to their traditions!

THE ASPIRATION OF KASEPUHAN INDIGENOUS YOUTH IN RIUNGAN SABAKI XI

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Mengenali Perubahan Lingkungan, Nilai dan Aturan Adat Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih

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