Using customary law to preserve life and forest

Ruslan Sangadji ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Palu, Central Sulawesi   |  Tue, 06/24/2008 10:02 AM  |  Environment

The sun remained on the eastern horizon, reluctant to show its rays. Cool air still covered the village. The bird songs came from the branches of trees. The dew on the grass was yet to dry. But the activities of the people had already started in Langko Village.

Langko village, Donggala regency, is located about 70 kilometers south of Palu city, Central Sulawesi.

One by one, people wearing brightly colored siga (a kind of batik headdress similar to that worn by Javanese men) entered the village. They were the customary law leaders of villages and subdistricts in the Lindu plain. The rain was pouring down, but it didn't dampen the leaders' spirit.

On that particular day, the customary law leaders came to the village at the edge of Lake Lindu for a traditional discussion, called "Kapotio Nolipu Ada", to reach an agreement based on customary law.

The deliberations were staged as one of the ways to observe World Environment Day, which fell on June 5.

At the meeting, all customary law leaders agreed with the concept tuwuku linoku -- my forest, my life.

"Tuwuku linoku means my forest is my life. So if the environment is damaged and the forests are cleared, then there is no source of life ... It is our obligation to protect our lives," said Lindu Customary Law Institution head Daniel Tarese.

"Tuwuku Linoku, my life is here. Here we're alive. Here we eat. And here is where we work. So where we will go if the forest, that gives us our lives, is destroyed?"

Members of the community make imprints on a piece of white cloth as a symbol to bury feelings of retribution. (JP/Ruslan Sangadji)

At the deliberations, the community reconfirmed its commitment to the Lindu Community Conservation Agreement (KKM) to manage people's social life and natural resources.

Daniel said that all can be managed well if the government fully trusts the community to manage the forest and natural resources based on local wisdom that has been in place for a long time.

"The felling of forests happens everywhere because the government doesn't trust the community's adat (traditional customary law). The community was even accused of felling of forest," he said.

Adat has been defended and passed down from one generation to the other, starting long before any zoning system was applied by the government and the region had become a national park.

Petrus Gesadombu, the secretary of the South Kulawi Customary Law Community, explained the forest region had been divided into five sectors by the ancestors of the Lindu community.

The first was called Wanangkiki, also known as the Ngata Sanctuary, with the forest owned by the villagers. The community may not take timber from the Wanangkiki region. They couldn't hunt in this forest or open plantations.

"Wanangkiki was thick forest serving as a buffer region," he said.

The second region was the Ntodea Sanctuary. It was a forest belonging to the general community. In here, the community could take timber of a predetermined diameter. It was also a place where the community could open plantations. The space was also allocated for community settlement.

"The principal here is that the community looks for life support," Petrus said.

The third was the Maradika sanctuary. This forest was fully controlled by the nobility. But the nobility and their families could not treat the region arbitrarily because their behavior was limited by their oath and traditional customary law promises. The ordinary community wasn't had no authority to enter or run a business in the region.

There was also an area called the Lambara Sanctuary, which was coarse grass forest. In here, the activities are limited to shepherding livestock.

And the last sector was the Viata Sanctuary. This was a totally prohibited region where no one was allowed to enter since it was considered sacred.

In this last sanctuary, a very dangerous Schistosomiasis fluke (a parasite that can cause liver damage) was found.

"No wonder our ancestors forbade us to enter the Viata region because in that place you can get the disease caused by the schistosomiasis fluke," Petrus said .

Apart from dividing up the forest region, the Lindu ancestors also divided the lake management among seven residents and named after local features.

According to Petrus, each village was responsible for the lake region. Other villagers may not enter another villager's region to take fish or conduct other business.

"Everyone must have mutual respect and be responsible for their own area," he explained.

In the past, the communities have made a lot of mistakes. Some did not follow the traditional customary law's role in managing the forest and others took fish in Lake Lindu without asking for permits. There was even one community that sold its land to another party, while illegal logging was everywhere.

Participants of customary law deliberations have lunch prepared from sacrificed buffalo to symbolize the common will to forget past mistakes. (JP/Ruslan Sangadji)

The traditional customary law community members were fed up with the violations and agreed that the forest functions and the lake had to be returned to their original state. For these reasons, the traditional customary law deliberations became an important event.

But before talking about the problems, the communities were obligated to release all past disputes. They were required to discard and bury any feelings of hatred to ensure they had a clean approach and a pure heart when deliberating their traditional customary law.

The approach was represented through the hand over of gifts as required by the customary law.

The gifts included a buffalo to be slaughtered, a dulang tray which has one leg, a piece of mbesa traditional cloth, areca nut and a guma traditional machete.

The government was obligated to hand over all those goods to the customary law leaders as redemption for the all past mistakes.

The buffalo handed over was then slaughtered by a village cleric. The meat was then cooked for a complementary lunch for everyone attending the customary law deliberations.

The buffalo's blood was caught in a large water jar and then one by one the members of the community dipped their right hand into the blood and then made an imprint on a piece of white cloth.

"This blood stamp serves as a symbol to bury the feelings of retribution for what has happened in the past," Daniel said.

With the ritual, a new life was reopened and the customary law deliberations started.

One by one the community members started to speak up, talking about the problems hampering the villages' progress, the history of Lake Lindu and the division of forest regions based on customary law.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.