Reflections on the Human Condition - Api-fellowships.org

mobilization activities. In addition, the intervening
NGOs also emerged out of support from more
experienced pro-democratic activists who had long been
in contact with larger political activists at national level
during the repressive establishment of the New Order.
Role of Peasant Groups
There are three points of similarity between the cases
could be forwarded. First, on social movement awareness,
the Cibenda and Ciècèng peasants both maintained high
fervour, apart because of the opening political space in
the district; apparently it was mainly for releasing social
rage over land dispossession they had been enduring for
long time. 14 Second, on criminal charges, the state actors’
efforts to criminalise the peasants are the most hated
because it is socially hardest hit against the peasants.
Criminal charges may be interpreted as the state’s tool
to warn against any attempt of other peasants to occupy
the land. There is parallel understanding with both
peasant groups of Ciècèng and Cibenda villages on this
matter. 15 Third, on the duration of the intense struggle,
the duration of the peasant movements in both villages
is nearly the same of about 30 months each. Both cases
have started the land disputes since earlier years that
were quickly prevented by the repressive regime from
any attempt to resolve the problem but individual
efforts that later quickly subsided. Both also maintain
relatively high responses from the peasants themselves,
particularly after being intervened by the studentled
NGOs in each district. However, the open social
movement dwindled as the establishment apparently
saw it inappropriate to continue the operation against
the abandoned land occupiers, apart from the likely
diminishing resources of the plantation corporation to
finance the manoeuvre.
The character of the land disputes differ as far as they
relate to the kinds of opponents they faced in which
Ciècèng peasants confronted the state-owned plantation
company and the other the government officials and
well-connected businessmen-cum-politicians. The
Ciècèng peasants, as a consequence, were quite opened
to have stronger solidarity from the other peasants in the
three districts of eastern W. Java because most groups
faced the same opponents, while the Cibenda villagers
were quite isolated and their fought issues were quicker
dwindling away. Both groups develop, accordingly, a
different strength in the long run of their struggle.
Unlike the Cibenda villagers, the Ciècèng peasants
have a traditional Islamic religious base that helped to
propel the land claiming. Religious belief was adopted
as a cultural framework 16 for their social movement that
SOCIAL JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY
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their struggle was more assessed and appropriated by
the leaders.
Other Organizations’ Role
In both cases, there were other organizations that
emerged in response to the movements. In the Ciècèng
case, a pro-plantation NGO attempted to propose
negotiation arrangement between the peasants and the
plantation management. The negotiation that resulted
in less pressure to peasants may be interpreted as positive
role of the NGO. While in Cibenda case, two local
Muslim youth organizations staged a rivalling mass
mobilization to warn to the peasants not to influence
the decision of the judicial court sessions that tried
the peasants for criminal charges. At the initial stage
of Reformasi era such contention was discouraging the
peasants’ cause, however later on the other groups made
up their view towards the peasants’ struggle.
The Opponents
Both opponents were the same pitiless though eventually
they failed in occupying the land as the peasants fought
to retain their rights. Both used the state actors, i.e. the
government officials to support their interests, and most
likely also spent their wealth to finance their moves,
particularly when they used the services of police officers
and thugs to coldly threaten the peasants. However,
if one compared the details of each party’s actions,
Ciècèng peasants turned out to be ‘encompassing’ over
the opponent, while the Cibenda may still have the
reasons to be apprehensive over whether the opponents
take another turn of actions in the future because the
opponents seem to be just slowing down only for a
while, while the peasants’ actions have undoubtedly
subsided away.
Commonalities and Impacts on Agrarian Reform in
the Indonesian Case Studies
Comparing both case studies, there are at least some
points to note based on their commonalities as far as
agrarian reform is concerned. First, the engagement
between the state and social actors may take place
only if the peasant communities have succeeded in
occupying the land with the support of larger-thanvillage
level peasant organization, on the condition
that the process is accompanied by extra efforts to
approach the government officials. Second, the level of
strength of the peasant groups’ matters as the Cibenda
peasants are more fragmented as compared to Ciècèng.
The latter is much facilitated by their better politicogeographic
position, while the Cibenda village is much
Ref lections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity
The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows