***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
Indonesian
Logging Destroys Indigenous Sustainable System
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
March
31, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Following
is a startling account from the World Rainforest
Movement
of gross abuses of Bentian Dayaks land rights.
The
Bentian
Besar District is located in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
It is
home to indigenous rattan producers utilizing a unique
system
of market-oriented rattan cultivation linked to their
swidden
agriculture system. Dayak rattan
gardens act as
biodiversity
conservation areas. The area is now to
be logged
against
the indigenous peoples wishes. Details
are provided of
human
rights violations including bulldozing grave sites,
scattering
bones of Bentian dead, and destroying Bentian forest
and
rattan gardens. Indonesian NGOs are appealing
for faxed
letters
of protest to the Indonesian government in support of the
Bentian
Dayaks demands, which are listed.
Please, do what you can
to
help.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
/*
Written 4:29 PM Mar 31, 1995 by gn:wrm in
igc:rainfor.genera
*/
/*
---------- "INDONESIA:URGENT ACTION - HASAN LOG" ---------- */
From:
Forest Peoples Programme <wrm>
Subject:
INDONESIA:URGENT ACTION - HASAN LOGS BENTIAN DAYAKS
_____________________________________________________________
WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
_____________________________________________________________
URGENT
ACTION 31
MARCH 1995
REPEATED CALL FOR
LETTERS/FAXES
INDONESIAN
GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED "DEVELOPMENT" AND LOGGING
DESTROYS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SUSTAINABLE AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM
BENTIAN CASE, EAST KALIMANTAN (Borneo),
INDONESIA
The
Bentian, a Dayak people of East Kalimantan in Indonesian
Borneo,
are confronting the logging, clearance and takeover of
their
traditional lands. Timber estates and transmigration
settlements
threaten to undermine their traditional way of
life,
which has successfully adapted to the market economy by the
production
of rattan (a vine used in basketry and furniture) in
heir
shifting cultivation fallows. The company responsible belongs
to Bob
Hasan, Indonesia's leading timber tycoon. Indonesian NGOs
are
calling for international support to challenge these abuses.
PLEASE
TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ALONG THE LINES SET OUT
BELOW
*Background*
The
Bentian Besar District is located in the Middle Mahakam region
of East
Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is home to Bentian Dayak
(indigenous)
rattan producers. Several of the Dayak groups of
Kalimantan,
including the Bentian, Benoaq, and the Pasir have
developed
a unique system of market-oriented rattan cultivation
linked
to their swidden agriculture system. Dayak rattan gardens
act as
"savings accounts" for their owners, as well as
biodiversity
conservation areas. These systems of rattan
cultivation
represent a rare example of market production,
sustainable
forest management, biodiversity conservation, and
local
income generation -- all designed and implemented by
indigenous
Dayak peoples of East Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo.
In
1981, Georgia Pacific, one of the largest American timber
companies,
built a logging camp on traditional Bentian lands in
the
Anan River area. They came close to sparking an armed conflict
with
the Bentian when they resettled villagers and destroyed
ancient
grave sites and rattan fruit gardens during base camp
construction.
Georgia Pacific built a corridor logging road
approximately
100 km long, parallel to the Lawa River, the main
transportation/communication
artery for the area. Instead of
building
bridges over the feeder streams to the Lawa, the company
dammed
all of the feeder streams for the entire length of the
road.
This severely reduced water flow to the Lawa and created
malarial
swamps on the other side of the road. Transportation and
communication
with the outside world become increasingly difficult
for the
local people who were not given easy access to logging
company
transportation. Due to an
unsatisfactory business
climate,
Georgia Pacific pulled out of Indonesia in the mid-1980's
and
concession areas were taken over by Bob Hasan, an Indonesian
timber
tycoon with close links to President Suharto. Georgia
Pacific,
while it no longer conducts logging operations in East
Kalimantan,
remains one of the largest purchasers and distributors
of
plywood from its former concessions (now the Kiani
Lestari/Kalimanis
group) to the American market.
Attempting
to secure the rest of their ancestral lands, the
Bentian
have been petitioning the Indonesian government since
1986,
completely without results. In July, 1993, the new
concession
holder PT Kalhold/Kalimanis sent armed bulldozer and
chainsaw
crews onto Bentian lands to prepare for a new
transmigration
settlement and an "industrial forest plantation".
The
bulldozers plowed 150 hectares of Bentian forest and rattan
gardens,
destroying over 10,000 rattan clumps and 2000 fruit
trees.
In addition, Bentian grave markers were bulldozed and
burned
and the bones of Bentian dead were scattered over the
charred
ground.
Beginning
in 1993, the Bentian publicly protested
the destruction
of
their traditional lands by logging companies and industrial
forest plantations.
They have repeatedly requested a stop to the
violations
of human rights and environmental destruction which
have
accompanied the land clearing of the first 150 hectares of
thousands
of hectares of Bentian lands scheduled for destruction.
As a
result of their protests they have been met with increased
repression,
threats, and intimidation from Indonesian governmental
officials
and security forces. On March 29, 1994, a Bentian leader
was
interrogated for 12 hours by security forces and government
officials
in an attempt to force him to sign letters voiding
Bentian
ancestral rights. The Bentian report numerous other acts
of
intimidation to try to force them to relinquish claims to their
lands
and rattan gardens.
The
Bentian's demands are as follows:
1. RECOGNITION OF THE BENTIAN'S LAND
RIGHTS.
2. RETURN OF THE (partially bulldozed) LANDS OF
JELMU SIBAK
VILLAGE (JATO REMPANGAN) TO THE BENTIAN
PEOPLE.
3. LEVY FINES AGAINST LOGGING COMPANIES AND
INDUSTRIAL FOREST
PLANTATIONS WHICH HAVE DAMAGED BENTIAN
LANDS AND RATTAN
AND FRUIT GARDENS.
4 STOP THE TRANSMIGRATION/INDUSTRIAL FOREST
PLANTATION
PROJECTS ON BENTIAN LANDS
IMMEDIATELY.
PLEASE
SEND FAXES EXPRESSING CONCERN ABOUT THE BENTIAN
SITUATION
AND ASKING ABOUT THE PROGRESS TO DATE IN SOLVING THE
CONFLICT
BETWEEN THE BENTIAN AND PT.KALHOLD UTAMA/KIANI
LESTARI
LOGGING CORPORATION IN JILMU SIBAK VILLAGE:
Key
points:
1.
Recognize Bentian land rights.
2.
Return Jelmu Sibak lands to the Bentian people.
3. Levy
fines against PT Kalhold/Kiani Lestari for destroying
productive rattan gardens and grave sites;
levy fines
against other companies which destroy
Bentian lands such as
Gunung Putih Indah company.
4. Stop
the transmigration/industrial forest plantations on
Bentian lands immediately.
SEND
YOUR FAXES TO:
President
Suharto
Fax:
62-21-345 7789
Bob
Hasan
Fax:
62-21-390 9222
Please
send copies of all faxes to the following environmental
and
indigenous rights groups:
FASUMAD
Jl.
Pertahanan 1
Kompleks
Yeschar
Samarinda,
KalTim
Indonesia
Tel/Fax:
62-541-35753
email:
stankup@peg.apc.org
WALHI
Jl.
Mampang Prapatan XV No41
Jakarta,
Indonesia
Fax:
62-21-794-1673
email:
walhi@nusa.or.id
tel:
011-62-21-799-4394/794-1672
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
You are
encouraged to utilize this information for personal
campaign
use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and
forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate,
timely
pieces;
though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Conservation
Archives at URL=
http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/gaia.html
Networked
by:
Ecological
Enterprises
Email
(best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org
Phone->(608)
233-2194 || Fax->(608) 231-2312