T

he government'€™s ambitious development plan throughout the country'€™s villages, disadvantaged as well as border areas, has raised concerns over a potential increase in violence, including against indigenous peoples, for the sake of economic benefits.

National Development Planning Minister Adrinof Chaniago said before officials from all across the archipelago during a coordination meeting on Monday that President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s administration would focus on accelerating development in the country'€™s 72,000 villages, several of which are located in border areas, for the next five years.

In an effort to bring facilities and infrastructure to such areas, the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) has included village clearing around forest and plantation areas in the plan, and has formulated a regulation on the access of indigenous groups, who depend on nature.

With such a plan, the government aims to decrease the number of underdeveloped villages by 500 this year and hopes to increase the target by 5,000 at the end of Jokowi'€™s administration in 2019.

The government is also eyeing to set up 2,000 developed and independent villages by the end of the administration'€™s tenure.

The administration is ready to allocate a huge amount of funds to achieve such targets, which according to Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister Marwan Jafar will reach Rp 20 trillion this year and is expected to increase gradually.

According to Marwan, the budget excludes the Rp 1.5 trillion allocated to carry out transmigration programs, which will also involve the Indonesian Military (TNI).

'€œWe need the help of the TNI, particularly TNI AD [Indonesian Army] to carry out the job, particularly in border areas. We will, for example, place retiring soldiers in a newly opened transmigration area,'€ Marwan said.

TNI chief Gen. Moeldoko previously revealed the military'€™s plan to expand its community service in former conflict zones, border areas, remote villages and among the urban poor.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), however, reminded Jokowi'€™s administration of the possibility of violence that might result from involving security forces, including soldiers and police officers, in the plan.

According to Komnas HAM chief Nur Kholis, violence might escalate if security officials sided with corporations, basing his stance on Komnas HAM'€™s finding that cited the police as well as corporations as the agencies that received most complaints over rights violations.

In 2014, Komnas HAM recorded 882 complaints against the police while 169 against corporations.

Local administrations are included in the top-three charts, receiving 680 complaints for misusing power by siding with corporations.

'€œWe expect new social problems to rise due to the government'€™s development plan that will focus on the economy,'€ Nur Kholis said recently.

'€œRelevant state agencies must carefully consider this,'€ he added.