the struggle of 'terrain vague' community on the banks of ......the struggle of...

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* Indonesian-French Seminar “The Role of Human and Social Science in Understanding

and Tackling Poverty”, June 3 – 4, 2013, Auditorium LIPI, Jl. Jend Gatot Subroto 10,

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The Struggle of 'Terrain Vague' Community on the banks of Ciliwung

River: The Story of Bukit Duri (Reflections on Involvement Expeeriences among Bukit Duri Slum Communities through

Shadows of Poverty, Empowerment Initiative, Authentic Dialogue and Neo-Liberalism) * ________________________________________________________________________________________________

I.Sandyawan Sumardi 1

Prologue

Since the beginning of 2000, at the end of Soeharto's reign and the beginning of the reform period,

we decided to stay and live in the Bukit Duri community on the banks of the Ciliwung River in

Tebet, South Jakarta. With residents, we set up and organized our common space “Studio Ciliwung

Merdeka” in RT 06/RW 012. Volunteers from other places in Jakarta and beyond assisted children,

adolescents and young children in organizing the activities. Approximately 1000 people, including

many young people, within RT 05, 06, 07, 08, RW 12 Bukit Duri, Tebet, South Jakarta and residents

across the river in RT 09, 10, 11, RW 03, Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta District Jatinegara

contributed and learned from this building process.

Ciliwung Merdeka's goal is to enable citizens of the community to counter the ill effects of social-

economic-political-legal structural inequalities such as marginalization, inaccessibility, and poverty.

To achieve this goal, Ciliwung Merdeka work to increase capacity and capability to respond to day

to day struggles, to enhance critical awareness and solidarity, to cope with flood disasters, the threat

of HIV-AIDS, drugs, the threat of forced eviction and stigmatization. Cultural and educational

programs address environmental issues, health, economy, spatial planning, art and culture to

improve the quality of life in the village. These programs empower community members to become

healthy, happy, independent, and openly communicative despite challenges of poverty. We try to get

into the "total conversation" with their situation of uncertainty, alienation (from the dominant urban

development discourse that structurally causes inequalities), and how social, economic and political

marginalization limits their life skills, and capacity. At the same time, we attempt to recognize the

desire, the spirit of shared struggle, joy and their expectations.

THE INVOLVEMENT: CILIWUNG MERDEKA

Ciliwung Merdeka (CM) was established on August 13, 2000. CM is a humanitarian movement

organized by the community, consisting of children, teenagers and residents of Ciliwung Riverside

at Bukit Duri RT 05, 06, 07, 08 RW 12, Kel. Bukit Duri, Kec. Tebet, South Jakarta; Kampung Pulo

RT 09, 10, 11 RW 03 Kel. Kampung Melayu, Kec. Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

1 A Humanitarian Activist, Executive Director of Ciliwung Merdeka and Jaringan Relawan Kemanusiaan

(Humanitarian Volunteer Network) and Sounding Board of Institute of Ecosoc Rights, Indonesia.

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CM was established to support the children, teenagers, and the residents of Bukit Duri in the

struggle of their daily lives. Issues and obstacles experienced such as structural injustices of socio –

economic, political and cultural nature, while also suffering from ignorance, poverty and lack of

opportunity in education, employment and the environment around them. Ciliwung Merdeka was

set up to provide support and guidance against the challenges such residents of Bukit Duri

experience face daily.

Vision, Mission and Objectives: to facilitate the growth of the community through developing

creative and innovative solutions, systematic processes and fostering a ‘can do’ attitude among the

children, teenagers, and all residents of Bukit Duri –Kampung Pulo. The intent is to raise their

awareness of their own capabilities, to build knowledge and skills, and encourage a self-reliant

attitude and solidarity within the Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo communities.

The Self-Reliant Programs:

1. Alternative Education

2. Periphery Training Center

3. Self Reliance Community Health Education

4. Environment Education

5. Kampong’s Spatial Self-Reliance Education

6. Economic Self Reliance Education

7. People’s Cultural Arts Education

1. Alternative education

Alternative education emphasizes informal education, as oppose to formal education, in order to

increase children's insight and knowledges. Such alternative education facilitates children in

improving themselves as socially minded, aware, independent, and who lives their daily life by

giving and investing care towards their environment, and society, and social problems. Learning by

doing is a the main method to sharpen the critical perspective of the children, youths, parents.

Without discriminating between race, gender or religion in the real application because we

recognize that only using the differences between cultures can we can help each other: “Each

person is a Teacher, The Universe is Our School”.

Activities: (a) Assisting Academic Education, (b) Art Education (Music, Theater, Skills), (c)

Journalism Education, (d) Audio Visual Education, (e) Reading/ Library Education (f) Public

Speaking Education.

2. Periphery Training Center Education

This program uses the context of Ciliwung Merdeka as an institution situated in the middle the

riverbanks, and community kampong, for social and cultural education experience. Ciliwung

Merdeka becomes a place for organizations, companies, institutions or middle class-community to

get direct experience, live in, and interact directly with community residents in Bukit Duri and

Kampung Pulo.

By spending time in the communities it opens and improves people's critical awareness, knowledge

and skills about human rights values, and democracy as well as witness the self-reliant attitude and

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solidarity of the children, teenagers, women, and men in Bukit Duri-Kampung Pulo. The program

involves junior high school students, high school students, college students, journalist, NGO

activists, social researcher, teacher, and social science lecturer, professional groups, local

government staff, social workers, people’s organization facilitator, and political party activists.

Activities: (a) Social Awareness, example: Social Analysis, History, Human Rights, Education. (b)

Social Skills Training, example: Acupuncture/Acupressure Training, Computer repairing, Watch

repairing, Handphone repairing.

3. Self Reliance Community Health Education

The purpose of the Self-Reliant Community Health Education is to support and guide self growth

and develop positive attitude, solidarity, critical awareness, knowledge and skills of the residents in

the area of health.

The focus is to enhance people’s quality of life through a better understanding of how to manage

their health, particularly for the children, teenagers and women at Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo.

Activities: (a) Regular, Dental Health Education and Services, (b) Acupuncture and Acupressure

Education and Services, (b) Self Reliance Community ‘Health Fund’ Education,

(c) Health Cadre Education and “ Little Doctor Program”, (d) Monthly Thematic Health

Counseling.

The Schedule:

• Dental Service; Tuesday, 11 am-3 pm

• Regular Service; Saturday-Sunday, 10 am-2 pm

• Acupuncture and Acupressure; appointment

• Monthly Thematic Health Counseling

4. Environment Education

Since 2008 was formed Environment Education Division of Sanggar Ciliwung from condition

concern of Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo which located at Ciliwung Riverside. Flood and

untreated waste issues encourages us to change and open-minded people’s habits to be better,

healthier and avoid from danger diseases.

The establishment of this division is expected to decrease and (hopefully) erase the environmental

problems through activities which we carry out together like waste processing into composting,

clean water and biopore, herbs and verticulture. To create better, healthier people’s habits and

lifestyles, done by organizing and involving all residents.

Activities: (a) Composting Processing (b) Medicinal (c) Plantation management of 100 trees on the

riverbank, (d) Clean Water/Biopore, (e) Environmental Emergency Response.

5. Economic Community Self Reliance Education

Relating to economic activities, most people living in Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo make a living

as street vendors with small businesses such as grocery merchants, janitors, rice stalls, cigarette

shops, hawkers, and coffee shops. Despite the relatively small incomes, they are able to meet the

necessities of life, and continue to survive and bounce back if disasters such as flooding happens,

damaging or destroying their businesses. Due to so much potential and abilities of community in the

fields of business, in September 2010, Ciliwung Merdeka tried to enhance them by opening a new

program that is Ciliwung Merdeka Economic Self-reliance Education.

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Activities: (a) Quilting Joint Venture, (b) Plastic Sewing Joint Venture (c) Compost Joint Venture.

6. Spatial Planning Community Self Reliance Education

The communities of Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo are located along the Ciliwung River. This

location makes them vulnerable to eviction due to the City and National government’s development

programmes and more vulnerable to flooding, exacerbating the poor condition of the Kampong

settlements.

To mitigate this situation Ciliwung Merdeka has taken the following 2 initiatives involving the

community:

(a) Kampung’s Spatial Self-Reliance Management

This activity involves small improvements of the physical condition of the kampong. Small

upgradings respond to the existing conditions, such as coloring the kampong, maintaining the

riverbanks (making embankments & waste processing), the maintaining the main road of the

kampong, studying and testing the alternative low-cost building material.

(b) Participatory Kampong’s Spatial Planning

This activity is intended for the community to be able to prepare their kampong alternative

design accordance with the potential, problems, aspirations and community agreements.

Aims: Expected with ‘Management and Spatial Self-Reliance Planning’ Process, the community

can add their awareness of their environment so that they can live with more decent, healthy, safe,

proving that communities can organize their own kampong, and has bargaining position with

government programs.

Activities: The Humanitarian Vertical Kampong of Bukit Duri as Design Alternative and

Alternative Kampong Design and Kampung Up-Grading: (a) Making River Embankment, (b) Waste

Management; Organic Plastic Waste, (c) Coloring Kampong (continuing) and Main Road

Arrangement, (d) Try out for alternative material of Eco-Kampong.

7. People Cultural Art Education

People’s Cultural Arts Education Program is one of the forms of folk art and cultural education

activities that combines the art form of theater, music, dance, film, painting, photographs, craft,

literary art, etc. The objective is that children, teenagers and all citizens are able to explore and

release the potential energies that exist in him and herself using existing infrastructure and facilities

to maximize the sustainable the community-based, economic and social empowerment of the Bukit

Duri and Kampung Pulo communities.

On July 2011, We have Musical Theater “Ciliwung Larung” at TIM. This cultural performance

performed by a group of 75 residents of the riverbanks of the Ciliwung in Bukit Duri and Kampung

Pulo, consisting of children, teenagers, adolescents, women and men. The theater part is an

expression of the struggle of our daily lives; it is "The Story of the Struggle of Vaguely Landed

Communities".

Through The Seven Self-Reliant Programs mentioned above, CM has facilitated the communities to

achieve better life and environment. Here several activities had been done and ongoing activities:

a. In 2000, built Ciliwung Merdeka Open House (Sanggar) as community center for education for

children, teenager, women and community in Bukit Duri-Kampung Pulo.

b. In 2002:

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b.a. Renovated and Built 14 houses that destroyed after big flood.

b.b. Built Small Mosque (Musholla) for Bukit Duri Community.

b.c. Built drainage system as environment upgrading.

b.d. Built Public toilets for RT 06, 08 RW 12 Bukit Duri, South Jakarta and RT 10 RW 03

Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta.

c. In 2008:

c.a. Built Compost House and started run composting program.

c.b. Provide 2nd floor of Ciliwung Merdeka Open House as Public Health Services and

education; provide clinics for general doctor, dentist, alternative health services such as

acupuncture and acupressure.

c.c. Built Public toilet for RT 05 RW 12 Bukit Duri-South Jakarta, and renovated public toilets of

RT 06, and 08 RW 12 Bukit Duri- South Jakarta, and RT 10 RW 03 Kampung Melayu-East

Jakarta.

c.d. Held clean water system for RT 05, 06, 07, 08 RW 12 Bukit Duri- South Jakarta, and RT 10

RW 03 Kampung Pulo-East Jakarta.

c.e. Made biopores for kampong water absorptions at several points at RT 05, 06, 07, 08 RW 12

Bukit Duri-South Jakarta, and RT 10 RW 03 Kampung Pulo-East Jakarta.

d. In 2007-2011, held free Acupuncture and Acupressure Trainings for the communities.

e. In 2008-2011, held routines nourish programs twice a month for toddler, children and pregnancy

women.

f. In 2008-2011, introduce and run green verticulture program and herbal-medicinal plantations.

g. In 2009-2011, held free computer-watch-electronics repairing training, cooking and make-up

trainings for the communities.

h. In 2010-2011, held Oyster Mushroom plantations.

i. In 2010-2011, held coloring kampong programs; made kampong signboard, and kampong mural.

j. In 2010-2011, held Community Musical Theatrical performances ‘Ciliwung Larung’ at

Kampong and Taman Ismail Marzuki Theater, Jakarta.

k. Since 2001-presents, held routine music, dance and theater exercises for children, teenager and

women.

l. Since 2002-presents, held Social Analysis Education for public awareness (students, journalist,

politician, social activist).

m. Since 2006-presents, run recycled an organic waste become handicraft product.

n. Since 2008-presents, held General Doctor Services, Dentist Services and free medications

services.

o. Since 2008-presents, run organic composting programs.

p. Since 2008-presents, held annually Kampung Festival at Bukit Duri-Kampung Pulo.

q. Recently and still in process, facilitate community to propose ‘Humanitarian Vertical Kampong

of Bukit Duri’ as participatory alternative solution pilot project to respond to government

planning to normalize Ciliwung river. The Governor and Vice Governor (Jokowi-Ahok) already

came to Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka to hear the proposal, first at campaign moment and the day

after his inauguration as DKI Jakarta Governor.

r. Collaborate with Relawan Penggerak Jakarta Baru (RPJB), preparing “Jakarta Kampung

Festival” to celebrate DKI Jakarta anniversary on June 2013.

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s. Preparing the sequel of Community Musical Theatrical performances ‘Ciliwung Larung II’

which scheduled on December 2013.

Claimed Spaces

"Remnant space" (terrain vague) is a versatile, flexible and fuzzy space in terms of the geometry,

use, ownership and its making. Such informality and flexibility is often viewed negatively,

especially by planners and technocrats. However, these spaces are an integral part of the growth of

the metropolis of Jakarta. The current metropolis is comprised of a stack of a long history of the

various layers. Terrain vague, although not a product of government planning, is still somehow

planned, and still have a certain meaning for the people of the metropolis.

When we enter Jakarta, we see how much state land or privately owned land was unused. The port

area and industrial areas have become derelict due to changes in transportation and technology, and

so have spaces between the freeway crossings, riverside and other neglected spaces. When we

circleon Jakarta’s elevated inner ring toll road, we can easily see residual spaces scattered along the

road below. The vacant spaces were left over after developers, owners of capital or competing

government institutions control of most of the public spaces that should be held for the welfare of

society.

Communities in Bukit Duri and Kampung Pulo are people who live in the "leftover spaces":

densely populated riverbanks, railways, and underpasses where homes and places of work overlap.

They are "survivors" who live with irregular pay, no access to bank credit and insecure land tenure.

They take the negative stigma and thus become scapegoats of irregularities and problems of the city.

They are despised in the city planning management system in Jakarta. They are the people for

whom access to basic needs is always uncertain, for whom eviction and flooding are always

imminent, compounded with exclusion from access to social, economic, political and cultural

systems.

In a report “Big City slum handcuff” on Kompas newspaper on Oct 2, 2012, 23 percent of urban

population around the world are labelled as living in slum conditions. ‘Informaity’ has become an

eyesore and problem for the world. Asia is the biggest contributor to slum residents with 504.2

million people. The latest data on Indonesia shows the total area of 57,800 hectares nationwide

categorised as slum. The growth rate of slum pockets in urban areas reaches 1.37 percent per year.

Assuming a constant accretion rate of slums, Indonesian slum areas in 2020 are projected to hit

67,000 hectares!

At the same time, concerns on slums are legitimized based on images of untidiness. There is almost

no real effort to curb poverty and capitalist urbanization that results in the growth of slums. The

motivation to deal with slums based on aesthetics is ignoring the real cause. Hence, it does little to

construct a holistic city development strategy. As squalor continues to grow in urban areas,

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declares a target for Indonesia to be slum-free by 2020. It

leaves serious doubt as whether the target can be achieved, given poor coordination between

institutions and stakeholders to address the issue of slums. In fact, there is lack of reliable data and

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indicators of untidiness to even start working based aesthetic justifications.

Based on experience and encounters with slum communities including Bantar Gebang, Bekasi,

Cakung-Cilincing, Teluk Gong, and BMW Park, as well as the experience of living 12 years in

Bukit Duri and Tebet in South Jakarta and Kampung Pulo, Kampung Melayu, Jatinegara, in East

Jakarta, we observe a clear expression of the scale of squalor of poverty.

Jakarta City Spatial War

The main problems of spatial problems in the city of Jakarta are already damaged urban spatial

system in Jakarta, which appears since "Kampong Improvement Program" (KIP) was discontinued.

Afterwards, urban development blatantly display the domination of the capitalist market. This

comes at the cost of the marginalized communities in Jakarta who were denied priority housing and

were alienated from settlement provision in Jakarta. Excessive developments of mega projects that

promotes glamorous lifestyle imageries trump the necessary spatial planning laws or land policies,

especially under governors Sutiyoso (1997-2007) and Fauzi Bowo (2007-2012).

Located on the northwest coast of Java island, Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and also the

national center of economy, culture, and politics. It is also the most populous city in Indonesia and

the thirteenth most populous city in the world with a population of 10,187,595 (November 2011).

Jakarta’s metropolitan area, Jabodetabek, covers four surrounding cities (Bogor, Depok, Tangerang,

and Bekasi) as places of residence of many in Jakarta’s workforce. The Globalization and World

Cities Study Group (GaWC) in 2008 already listed Jakarta as a ‘global city’. Although boundaries

of the metropolitan region’s influence remains open for debates and discussions, Jakarta’s

conurbation has approximately 28 million population, which makes it one of the largest

conurbations in the world in terms of population.

The official poverty data in Jakarta that was published by the city government is 366,770 in year

2012, an increase of 3.70 percent compared to the previous year (355,200 people in 2011). This

official number stands at approximately 3.7% of Jakarta’s population and most likely

underrepresents the actual poor population in reality. In addition, the poverty line of Jakarta was

increased from USD 368.41 thousand per capita per month in 2011 to Rp 392.57 thousand per

capita per month in 2012. The inflation rate also affects the livelihoods of the urban poor, especially

when it continues to increase from 3.97 percent in 2011 to 4.52 percent in 2012 – higher than the

national average of 4.31 percent although still lower than predicted figures between 6.0 to 6.4

percent for year 2012. However, the official numbers still have to be contextualized to the realities

on the ground. For example, the Human Development Index of Indonesia increased to 78.20 in

2012, compared to 78 in 2011. Despite this seemingly encouraging figure, in Jakarta the women’s

literacy rate in slums and the most deprived areas still stands at 60%, compared the overall city

figure at 94% (UN-Habitat, 2011).

In the city of Jakarta, the state does not provide access to settlements and selling a decent place for

the urban poor. Moreover, the spatial stigmatization and legal marginalization of the urban poor,

support the suppliers of illegal slum areas to operate with their own logic of capitalism: the

commoditization of ‘illegal’ land. Illegal land suppliers can be from private developers, government

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officials, or collaboration of both. The continuing accumulation and circulation of capital in Jakarta

spur the growth of property business, both the legal and illegal ones. This inevitably leads to the

battle of economic space between the ‘formal’ versus ‘informal’ societies and the moneyed class

versus the marginalized communities (Siswanto, Kompas, Dec 20, 2003). The terms ‘formal’ and

‘informal’ also become irrelevant and problematic in analyzing urban spaces because of the blurring

boundaries due to the intricate relationships between the legal and illegal, between the institutions

and the underground economy.

The poor in Jakarta in general are aware of illegal acts, so they do not target the permanent

residence, especially in terms of what Heidegger calls dwelling (1971). For the urban poor who

operate in the illegal and informal trade, they live in a space odyssey, which Heidegger calls

wandering. Therefore, they seem to be contemporary flaneur who live in a fantasy world (in the

realm of the unreal) (White, 2001). They realize that life "is not" in the dimension of space and time

that has been externalized, but in making this condition (being) they continuously seem to dissolve

in the world of the "unconscious and irrational". The experience of urban life generates a new

understanding of urban discontent and also constructs a new spatial meaning from the chaos and the

instability of space. Such spaces are often referred to as the space of undeterminancy. It is the

wandering, flaneur, and the space of undeterminancy that actually makes a big city (cosmopolitan)

like Jakarta can still function [relatively] effectively.

Data and Facts on the Right to Housing of the Poor2

1. Policies on housing. The Government has adopted Law No. 4 Year 1992 on Housing and

Settlements and further adopted a new law, Law No. 1 Year 2011 on Housing and Settlement

Areas. The existence of policies on land reservation for public housing is affirmed in Law No. 4

Year 1992. While Law No. 1 Year 2011 renders the responsibility to provide land for public

housing to the provincial government and cut the role of the National Housing and Urban

Development Agency (Perumnas) which has been instrumental to the development of public

housing and replace them with Public Service Agency and the Local Service Agency which take

the role more of project operator of the government.

Both laws have yet to touch upon the issue of public housing. Law No. 4 Year 1992 has yet to be

implemented due to the non-existence of its implementing regulation and thus, the policy on land

reservation for public housing has also yet to be implemented. While Law No. 1 Year 2011

renders the responsibility to provide land for public housing to the provincial government. This

policy is more difficult to implement noting the diversity of the provincial government policies,

the lack of coordination between the central and provincial governments, the high rate of land

conflicts in the region, and that the majority of the provincial budget is used to fund the

bureaucracy which, as a result, make it difficult for the local government to support land

2 Sri Palupi, 2013. “Briefing Note Data and Facts on the Right to Housing”, Institute of Ecosoc Rights (an

input paper for United Nation Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing).

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reservation for public housing. If land reservation for public housing is yet to achieve, public

housing it self is thus far from reality.

2. The Government is not serious. The Government is not serious in ensuring the implementation of

the right to housing. This is evident from the following indications: The Government has not

seriously and firmly regulated on land tenure. In fact, since 1980s the Government has begun

deregulating land tenure system where private sector (corporation) is given the freedom and ease

to own a land. Land and house are considered as a commodity. As a result, land is mainly

controlled by private developers (corporations); land is used as an object of speculation without

any control from the Government. The 2010 Data of the National Land Agency shows that no

less than 56 percent of the national asset of which the majority is land was owned by only 0.2 per

cent of the population. Without any land allocation policies for public housing, the right to

housing can not be implemented.

The financing system of housing depends on banking or commercial financial market. The

Government trades on commercial residential mechanism by giving the sole privilege of housing

development to private developers. In regard topublic housing, the Government provides

subsidized housing loans in the form of interest rates.

Policies on housing does not cover the majority of the poor people who work in the informal

sector since housing loans are only given to those who have a fixed income by showing their ID

card (KTP), family card (KK), pay slip, reference letter and the amount of salary received.

There is no comprehensive system of housing provision that accommodates various approaches

to providing houses for the people, such as public housing system, community housing system,

social housing system, and commercial housing system. In addition, there is no institution that

accommodates multiple procurement systems in regard to housing provision. There is only

buying and selling house system which is controlled by private developers. The capacity of the

community to do a self-financing housing is not possible as the land is controlled by private

developers and that there is no land allocation policy available for the people or poor

communities to hold a self-financing housing.

The Government already requires developers to build houses with 1:3:6 patterns (for every unit

of luxury housing and 3 units of intermediate housing, developers are required to build 6 units of

housing for the low-income earners). However, this policy is yet to be implemented due to the

lack of enforcement. Developers tend to build luxury houses for the high-income earners and

make houses as a commodity, while the responsibility to develop a simple house for the low-

income earners is being abandoned.

The Government also requires developers to allocate 20 per cent of the land for housing

development for the low-income earners; however, this policy is also not applicable. Developers

tend to build luxury houses and apartments in the city that generates greater benefits. Housing

for the middle-low income earners is usually built outside the city, far from their workplace.

Consequently, low-income earners have to pay for expensive transportation costs.

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Based on Law No. 1 Year 2011, developers are required to construct houses with a minimum

size of 36 square meters noting that a decent house is a house with a minimum size of 36 square

meters. However, such as minimum size restriction puts the low-income earners in a more

difficult situation since they can only afford to buy a 21-27m2-house. While those working in the

informal sector do not have any access to housing as they cannot access bank credit.

The Government builds Rumah Susun (Vertical Houses) for the low-income earners in the city.

However, poor people cannot access this type of housing due to the high rent cost and the

bureaucracy to own Rumah Susun. In the end, 80 per cent of Rumah Susun, which were initially

built for the low-income earners, owned by the upper-middle class.

A system of handling slump area is not available. The difficulty of the low-income earners to

own a house in the city has resulted in the emergence of slum areas in the state-owned lands,

empty lands, riverside lands, and other marginal lands, in almost every city. The size of the slum

area in each city is very significant. In Jakarta, for example, the size of the slump area is 1663.71

hectares, which is inhabited by 555.540 people.

3. The lack of access of poor people to housing. The lack of access of poor people to housing -

either to owned or rented houses (Rumah Susun) -has forced them (including labor) to live in

slump areas which are not habitable and vulnerable to evictions, including areas by the riverbank

and railway, empty lands, under the toll road, under the bridge, and other.

4. There are 400-700 cases of fires in Jakarta. Every year, there are 400-700 cases of fires in

Jakarta, and most of them occurred in poor areas. Setting fire to houses in poor areas seems to

have become the modus operandi to evict poor communities, as acknowledged by the North

Jakarta Kasudin Trantib, Toni Budiono: “Burning or scorched earth is one of the tactics used to

destroy illegal buildings such as those by the riverbank. In urgent situations, burning is done to

help destroying the building.” (Published in Kompas, 2 November 2001).

5. Discrimanation. The housing provision policy for the upper-middle and the lower classes is

discriminatory. The upper-middle class can easily access houses in the city close to the

workplace and public services, while the lower class have to live outside the city far from the

workplace and bear the burden of expensive transportation costs. There are areas that

discriminate against poor people in regard to the provision of housing. In Depok City, for

example, the local government made a policy that requires developers to build houses with a

minimum size of 150 square meter sin order to target specific groups to access such housing and

to prevent the emergence of slum areas in Depok.

6. The Award. In 2003, Indonesia received an award from the Centre on Housing Rights and

Evictions (COHRE) as the country with the highest incidence of forced eviction with Jakarta as

the biggest city in Indonesia where forced evictions took place.

7. The right of indigenous peoples. The Government does not recognize the right of indigenous

peoples to their traditional lands (tanah ulayat) and the right of indigenous peoples living in and

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around the forest. As a result, private concessions (mining, plantation, logging, etc.) have

ignored the existence of indigenous peoples and deprived their right to housing.

8. Homeless. Agrarian and natural resources conflicts have resulted in thousands of peasants and

indigenous people homeless.

9. The rights of minority groups to housing. Conflicts based on religion, ethnicity, and politics have

taken away the rights of minority groups to housing. They lost their homes and live as refugees,

as experienced by the Ahmadiyya community in various regions who are still being threatened,

attacked, and evicted from their homes; Shia community in Madura; Balinese in Lampung,

Madurese in Kalimantan, Chinese ethnic during the riots in May, and etc. Since 1999 to date,

thousands of former East Timorese refugees are still living in refugee camps in Kupang and

Atambua.

10. The intensity of disasters has destroyed the homes of millions of people living in disaster prone

areas. The intensity of disasters due to environmental degradation and climate change has

destroyed the homes of millions of people living in disaster prone areas. National Disaster

Management Agency noted, in 2004-2009, Indonesia was hit by disasters for 4.408 times,

including flood (1.1916 times), landslide (469 times), flood with landslide (158 times). Of 497

districts or cities, 176 are at high risk of flooding and 156 are at high risk of being hit by a

landslide. Floods and landslides have destroyed homes of people living in the disaster prone

areas.

Understanding of Poverty

Poverty can be defined as a low standard of living, i.e. the existence of a level of material

deprivation in the number or class of people compared to the general living standards of the society.

Low standard of living has direct and visible impact on the state of health, moral life, and the self-

esteem of those who are classified as poor. Hall and Midgley (2004), said poverty can be defined as

material deprivation and social conditions that cause individuals living below the adequate standard

of living. Poverty is a condition in which individuals experience relative deprivation compared with

other individuals in society.

John Friedmann argues that poverty can be defined as the inequality of opportunity to accumulate

social power base. Social power bases include (not limited to) productive capital or assets (eg land,

housing, equipment, health, and other) sources of financial, social and political organization that

can be used to achieve the common good, social networking to get a job, goods, knowledge,

adequate skills and useful information (Quinney, 1979). Furthermore, Friedmann defines poverty as

disempowerment of society, in which they have less influence on urban planning and policies.

Poverty from the perspective of social development can be understood as follows: First, poverty is a

deprivation of basic rights in society, such as access to income, education, and health. So it is

important to see the squalor of poverty not as crime, but as a consequence of an unjust system. Any

explanation of poverty must incorporate structural factors that led to the poverty, as oppose to micro

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explanations which see poverty as a problem of incapacity of the individual. Structural factors

benefit particularly the state and private businesses as the largest players in the urban systems with

direct access to resources and political power.

Poor country management is a major issue in addressing the problems of poverty. Structural

inequalities have caused millions of children lacking access to quality education, health, nutrition,

job opportunities, systems of savings and investment, public services, jobs, social security,

protection of the family. Poverty prevents millions of people from obtaining basic needs such as

food, clothing and shelter. When experiencing poverty in rural and urban communities, one is

willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of his security and life safety (James C.Scott, 1981).

There are three main findings from current policy debates that link poverty with globalization. First,

poor countries with around 3 billion people have broken into the global market for manufacturers

and services. Twenty years ago most developing countries exported primary commodities, but now

manufacturers and services predominate. This successful integration has generally supported

poverty reduction. Examples can be found among Chinese provinces, Indian states, and the

countries of Bangladesh and Vietnam. The ‘new globalizers’ have experienced large-scale poverty

reduction: during 1990s the poor population declined by 120 million. Integration would not have

been feasible without a wide range of domestic reforms covering governance, the investment

climate, and social service provision. But it is also required international action, which provided

access to foreign markets, technology, and aid.3

The second finding concerns the inclusion both across countries and within them. One of the most

disturbing global trends of the past two decades is that countries with around 2 billion people are in

danger of becoming marginal to the world economy. Incomes in these countries have been falling

and poverty has been on the rise. People in these countries participate less in trade today than they

did 20 years ago. In the extreme, some of these are failed states, such as Afghanistan or the

Democratic Republic of Congo. The world has a large stake in helping countries integrate with the

global economy, although unfortunately the approaches and results may not always be beneficial for

these countries. Some measures that would make integration lead towards a greater inclusion of

countries in contemporary globalization range from better access to rich country markets to better

management of greater volumes of foreign aid.

Within countries that have succeeded in breaking into global manufacturing markets, integration

has not, typically, led to greater income inequality. Nevertheless, there are both winners and losers

from globalization. Both owners of firms and workers in protected sectors are likely to lose from

liberalization and a more competitive economy, whereas consumers and those who find jobs in a

new firm will be among the winners. It is important to counter the risks of loss through social

protection, and such measures are affordable in the context of the economic gains that the new

globalizing countries are experiencing. The key to inclusive development is the focus on market

expansion for human flourishing, not the other way around. This puts the priority on the people and

3 “Globalization, Growth, and Poverty: Building an Inclusive Economy”, A World Bank Policy Research

Report, Oxford University Press, New York, 2002.

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their welfare, rather than abstracted numbers that seemingly represent economic growth that are

often problematic and unequal.

A third issue concerns standardization or homogenization. Opinion polls in diverse countries reveal

anxieties that global economic integration will lead to cultural or institutional homogenization. Yet

societies that are all fully integrated into the global economy differ enormously. Among the richest

countries, Japan, Denmark, and the United States are each quite different in terms of culture,

institutions, social policies, and inequalities. Among the developing country globalizers, it is again

striking that countries such as China, India, Malaysia and Mexico have taken diverse routes toward

integration and remain quite distinctive in terms of culture and institution. Diversity may be more

robust than is popularly imagined. Nevertheless, some recent developments in the global trading

and investment regime are pushing countries toward an undesired standardization. Some of the

notorious examples include imposing public-private partnerships and privatizations of public goods

and services in the name of efficiency, while institutions, social structures, and cultures in various

societies may not be suitable for such arrangements. This is another example of market expansion

and corporatisation that put economic growth over human flourishing. It is important that global

trade and investment agreements respect countries’ (and societies’) freedoms in a range of areas

from intellectual property rights, cultural goods, and environmental protection to social policies and

labor standards. Globalization does not need homogenization, and it is important to respect that

diversity in international agreements. These are also in real danger such that the imposition of

global standards could be used as an excuse for a resurgence of rich country protectionism.4

In sum, global economic integration has supported poverty reduction and should not (or could not)

be reversed. But the world economy could be much more inclusive: the wealth that accumulates

through the growth of global markets must not continue to by-pass 2 billion people in less

developed countries. The rich countries can do much, both through aid and trade policies, to help

currently marginalized countries onto the path of integration that has already proved so effective for

the new globalizers.

Six years ago, the World Bank launched a poverty assessment report “Making the New Indonesia

Work for the Poor” and in the past few weeks, several media groups have featured articles on the

issue of poverty. Some of them emphasized the World Bank’s analysis that the number of poor in

Indonesia is not just 39.1 million as calculated by the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data, but

almost half of the population.

A majority of the poor in Indonesia is the largest group that has been pasrah dan sabar or “patient

and resigned to God” for the longest time. Our history is not merely the story of bankruptcy and

awakening of an economy, but also a story of the voice of the poor that has been silenced by the

tyranny. After being patient and resigned to God for tens of years, the failure of the economy

crushes the lives of these people who lived between life and death. Being patient and resigned to

God might sound like a priority. But in this Republic, the status has been long changed into

ideological words from the mouth of those in power. Children can only be patient for several

4 Michael Chossudovsky, “The Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms”, Third World

Network, Penang, 1997.

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hours. Children who have been patient and resigned to God for years are no longer children, but

puppets. To allow the chaotic management of economy and politics is to permit the genesis of

millions of puppets.

It is challenging to determine who the poor in Indonesia are. The World Bank has different methods

to identify the number of poor in Indonesia, which can either be based on the consumption of 2,100

calories a day or the international poverty line based on the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of US$1

and US$2 a day. These methods are used both in the national and international poverty lines for

different objectives.

To analyze Indonesian poverty profiles, according to Vivi Alatas (2007)5, the World Bank uses the

national poverty line as a basis to analyze the causes of poverty and to determine poverty strategies

or programs in a country. In the case of Indonesia, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) calculates the

national poverty line, which is more appropriate for these kinds of analysis because it is based on

the minimum consumption level in that particular country.

However, the national poverty line cannot be used to compare the poverty levels of different

countries, because consumption trends and methods of calculation are different from one country to

another. To compare poverty levels between countries, it is assumed that we need to use a

standardized methodology applicable to all countries. Thus, the World Bank uses Purchasing Power

Parity (PPP) exchange rates. The PPP of US$1 exchange rate indicates how many rupiah are

required in Indonesia to purchase the same amount of goods and services that US$1 would buy in

the US. These PPP exchange rates are determined based on prices and quantities of selected

commodities for each country identified through benchmark surveys.

From this calculation, the World Bank found that 7.4 percent of Indonesians consumed less than

PPP US$1-a-day of goods and services and 49 percent consumed less than US$2 a day. Although to

some people the figure 49 percent is very surprising, it actually illustrates progress compared to

1999, where almost two-thirds of the population had a consumption rate of less than PPP US$2 a

day. Compared with neighboring countries, Indonesia’s US$1 PPP poverty rate is similar to China

(8.0 percent), a little below the Philippines (9.6 percent) and slightly above Vietnam (6.2 percent).

These three countries have, however, US$2 PPP poverty rate well below that of Indonesia: China

(26 percent), the Philippines (39.3 percent) and Vietnam (39.7 percent).

The large gap between US$1 and US$2 PPP poverty rate reflects the high vulnerability to poverty

in Indonesia. Most Indonesians are hovering around the national poverty line, equivalent to around

US$1.5 PPP. Disasters such as harvest failure, loss of employment or illnesses within the family,

can easily drive people below the poverty line. The fact that around 40 percent of poor households

were not poor in the previous year supports this conclusion. The data from two SUSENAS panel

surveys, in 2005 and 2006, demonstrated that 9.5 percent of Indonesians are chronically poor and

14 percent are transient poor. High vulnerability to poverty is not a new phenomenon in Indonesia.

A SMERU study reported that in 1998-1999 around 40.3 percent of the population was transient

poor, while 17.5 percent were chronically poor.

5 Vivi Alatas, TEMPO Magazine - No. 20/VII/Jan 16 - 22, 2007.

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The dynamics of entering and leaving poverty and the high vulnerability of the poor highlights the

need for two key poverty reduction strategies. First, to ensure that the poor are better connected to

growth opportunities through: (i) maintaining macroeconomic stability; (ii) investing in education,

both formal and informal; (iii) better access to roads, telecommunications, credits and formal sector

employment. Second, in coping with disasters, it is important to ensure that the poor do not make

bad decisions that will negatively affect their future or their children’s future, such as lowering their

expenditures on health care and education.

The Government of Indonesia has prepared programs related to these two strategies with the

launching of the National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM) and piloting a Conditional

Cash Transfer program named “Keluarga Harapan” in several provinces. Lessons from Latin

American countries indicate that Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) can assist the poor to respond

better to shocks. A CCT program provides cash transfer to the poor, conditional on families

obtaining preventive basic health and nutrition services, and sending their children to school. A

CCT program would be very beneficial to preventing impoverishment and improving human

development outcomes in Indonesia.

Poverty reduction is our common goal. By focusing on several priority sectors, Indonesia has an

excellent opportunity to help 39.1 million of its people exit the poverty cycle and to prevent a larger

number of people who are not currently poor from falling into poverty.

We know that the solutions for so many injustice symptoms, experienced for so long by the poor,

will include econometrics of inflation, foreign debt, agricultural sectors and subsidy. But we also

know that management of economy and politics that are filled with terror, collusion and corruption

is not the solution for it. In addition, addressing poverty only through numeric calculations is too

simplistic in understanding the more complicated and multifaceted aspects of poverty. As discussed

earlier in this paper, poverty is about disempowerment and about being [made] voiceless in the

country, in the city. Poverty is also about being invisible, through which places of residence are

neglected in the urban development discourse that is dominated by corporate and big capital

interests.

Today, the poor along with university students demand the abolishment of such terror, collusion

and corruption management that is more widespread in this Republic. Understanding poverty in

Jakarta is only possible through the lens of real experiences on the ground. Poverty alleviation

needs to take into account the blurring boundaries of the formal and informal, the flexibilities and

uncertainties of social lives in the urban villages. Solely quantitative measures of poverty may be

convenient measures but too simplistic to be the basis of development that seriously prioritize the

human dimension.

Poor Peoples

How do we, Ciliwung Merdeka see the poor or the victim groups are disadvantaged, as the subject

of primary care? The poor are no less rational in terms of recalling, weighing, and deciding matters

concerning their dignity of life and death. The poor are often the actor and interpreter in own

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history. They tend to develop their own way to understand all the events of life, natural objects and

surroundings. The way of the poor is always likely to be rejected. Their innovations are rarely

legitimized or integrated into the values and needs of the existing mainstream social system. Steady

stability in the way-of-life of the poor is often a survival mechanism that has been proven to work

for so long.

His life displaces the poor, but the poor will never cease striving to make the existence of their life

one of a fullness. And this fullness cannot be precisely defined except by themselves. So our aim in

working and living with the poor should be to understand and appreciate how their struggles are

typical, and to keep away from any tendency to easily change, nor to try to support them with all

sorts of real innovation that comes from outside their lives. All sorts of efforts conscientization can

only be justified as an invitation to stand together and build together.

Experience of involvement in the field has always said that in time the poor have the heart and

power to help the plight of their poor fellows. Hence, to begin to help them, the first would be to be

formed is a solidarity network among themselves to mobilize their forces.

In the solidarity network service of the poor, we can avoid the excess of dependences on personal

attitudes or institutions (which often appear on financial assistance and spectacular innovations

from outside). In contrast, we provide mentoring and opportunities for further growth as flexible as

possible with an independent attitude, which is healthy and suitable with the natural-self. With the

help of subordinate charity, we had the opportunity to be present as a sympathetic witness to the

experience of their lives in the struggle to become an actor and interpreter of the resurrection and

the life history of their own. All kinds of social services that we conduct in a participatory manner

have the ultimate goal to enhance the community’s own self-reliance, self-help and spontaneous

attitude.

In my mentoring experiences so far in Ciliwung Merdeka, I have seen some forms of human rights

violation in the context of politics done either by the state, or private parties/corporations against

civilians, especially the poor communities in the country. These poor communities are stigmatized

for their situation of poverty, limited support, and self-reliance of the criminalized victims. When

authorities say they deserve to suffer for their own crimes (for being poor), they portray the lack of

recognition of the rights of the victims are still citizens who have the right to be protected, even

when they do not have Jakarta identity cards. Evictions are violent, brutal and sudden, often with

shooting, beating, torture, burning, and looting. Such methods eliminate the right to life (the right to

housing, employment and decent living) with no alternative. The victims are left without any

assistance of any kind. Destroying the basis of kinship and culture means destroying the supporting

mechanism to survive through poverty and hardship.

Eviction is made a project worth billions of rupiah. Religion is used merely as a means of

legitimacy and to attract popular support. Narrow nationalism echoes and enters the minds of the

people that were colonized and oppressed as if they belong to other nations. The nation is described

as a big family, where the government is the father of the family and the people are his children.

Therefore, the “family principle” is introduced as an element of nationalism, through which the

government should be respected. In practice, the “family principle” is used to legitimize

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government actions, including a tight control over the information given to the people by silencing,

cultivating fear, and developing control mechanisms for the press. Despite positive effects of the

1998 Reform, the increasing ownership of big corporations over many newspapers and broadcasting

companies has hindered the press from voicing the real truth when it comes to the interest and the

voices of the poor. Privatisation and corporatisation of news agencies is portrayed as normal.

Similarly, the real truth is obscured when it comes to civil society groups and social institutions.

This includes NGOs and institutions that are supposed to be the voice of the people, such as

Parliament, the House of Representatives, and even the Political Parties. Possibilities for students

to be involved in practical politics outside campus had been limited for decades, giving rise to

doubts, stuttering and student apathy as intellectuals. Even when the 1998 Reform brought a wind

of change, effects of these limitations are still felt, especially when educational trainings for

development practitioners are based on the stigmatization of urban slums as untidy signs of

backwardness that need to be eliminated. Cradles of communities are terrorised with elitism myths

of development, which also manipulates the critical moments in the community.

Empowerment

Education is a means to liberate the marginalized communities from various forms of false

consciousness, chaining. Education is also a means to raise awareness and develop a new spirit to

fight, to dismantle all forms of social isolation tendencies, economics, politics and culture, in order

to liberate themselves through empowerment. Empowerment through education gives priority to

assisting children and adolescents in the fields of science, arts and culture, alternative, creative

programs. In practice, these programs can only empower communities through real participatory

work together in the field of environment, non-governmental health services and community

economic self contextually and autonomous citizens.

The vision and purpose of Ciliwung Merdeka is "to open, to raise critical awareness and to

empower citizens, especially children and adolescents, through socio-economic movements-

culture.” Ciliwung Merdeka works towards this vision specifically “by staging synergistic

expression between theater, dance, music, audio-visual, as well as spatial-local creative arts.” The

intention is “so that children, adolescents and all citizens are able to utilize all his/her the potential

energyand all of the existing infrastructure and facilities available in the environment to the

maximum, through effective and sustainable community-based approaches. This inherently includes

an appreciation of the environment and the economic empowerment of citizens in Kampung Bukit

Duri Pulo ".

In developing countries, the discourse of empowerment emerged when mainstream development

practices brought social deprivation, economic inequality, natural resource degradation, and the

ruling power’s alienation from society. Thus was born the concept of empowerment as antithetical

to the development of the model. Empowerment is also antithetical to the model of industrialization

were less in favour of the majority of the people. Empowerment is also known as “the politics of

alternative development” (Friedmann, 1992).

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The concept of empowerment builds on the following logic. The mainstream development model

requires a A concentration of power to centralize control over the means of production. It also

requires a concentration of power over production workers, which results in communities bearing

the "economic survival" in the periphery. The same concentration of power builds the knowledge

and education system, political system, legal system and ideologies that are manipulative to

strengthen its legitimacy. The simultaneous co-optation of the knowledge system, the legal system

and the political system ideology would divide the people into the powerful and the powerless, with

a wide spectrum in between. In this dichotomy, those in power would oppress those who are

powerless. Freeing oneself from exploitation and gaining oneself control of their own livelihoods,

needs to be done through a process of empowerment. The process will liberate the oppressed and

empower the powerless.

Empowerment can be defined as the acquisition of power and access to resources for livelihoods.

Even from a political science perspective, power concerns the ability to influence others. The term

empowerment is often used to describe the state as desired by the individual, in the circumstances

that each individual would have choice and control in all aspects of life. This concept is a form of

appreciation towards human, or in other words to "humanize humans". Through empowerment

"victims of development" will rise to become "agents of development". Participatory empowerment

includes respecting differences, local wisdom, de-concentration of strength and increased

independence.

Empowerment model is based on the concrete situation of human suffering, oppression and

struggling for independence. The core method is praxis, not as an application of theories, but rather

using practice as a theoretical basis that continuously evolve and be corrected in the process. The

underlying assumption is that a new truth is known and legitimate in action and action. The current

problem is that "truth", "justice", "peace", "democracy" are generally defined in intellectual terms

and not through experiences nor praxis in the world. Only in and through the process of transition

and change in practice (meaning in action and action) we truly become the way to obtain the

"truth", "justice", "peace" and "democracy".

This means that the model of empowerment movement as orthopraxis (act correctly) precedes

orthodoxy (out correctly). According to this model we do not know what "truth", "justice", "peace"

and "democracy" is if we do not follow it with praxis. The emphasis is not on the form of

institutional organization, but on the reality of the organism, its movements, which would reflect the

"truth", "justice", "peace" and "democracy". Truth should never made absolute, because then it

would be an ideology, while in essence it must continuously be critically viewed through the lens

of praxis. So we must remain open to new forms of innovations that encourage more actions.

What are the implications of this model of empowerment movement? The model of empowerment

movement is always unique and authentic, not only with the realization that begins with dogma or

symbols, but must be with a concrete realization in the praxis of historical involvement. Not all

conditions for the possibility of a claim that the model of the empowerment movement must

normatively be met. ("Truth", "justice", "peace" and "democracy" may not be fully realized in this

world).

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Our involvement in the process of empowerment and authentic dialogue is not affected by the

values that are offered as the only norm. This model of empowerment movement always gives the

possibility of recognition of the values of truth, justice and peace beyond our community. The bases

and norms for the values of truth, justice and peace are liberating praxis.

Circle of Community Empowerment Education Dynamics of Ciliwung Merdeka

Authentic dialogue

Authentic dialogue is a process that is a means "to act before knowing". It means that a practical

dialogue would illuminate theory. Essentially, "to understand the truth, one must do it". Dialogue is

seen as a hermeneutic of praxis that can illuminate theoretical problems. Only in this dialogue,

praxis values of truth, justice and peace can be affirmed.

Dialogue is generally defined as: exchange of experience and understanding between two or more

participants, in which experience, awareness and understanding grows. Dialogue should be based

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on personal experience within the demands of unwavering truth. Participants should take part in in-

depth dialogue, not only for knowledge, but rather for personal experience, so he can offer himself,

not just his knowledge, his ideology or his religion. Dialogue should be based on the recognition of

the truth that may exist within a community. The ability to recognize this truth must be based on the

hypothesis that the citizens and the state apparatus have a base and a common goal. Participants

here are required to be able to listen to each other in an authentic way, without any preconceived

notion that the truth of the other is "incomplete". The basic and common purpose in the dialogue

should remain in the concerns of all parties to overcome poverty, ignorance and oppression, to

avoid the threat of destruction. The word "hypothesis" means that the participants can never

determine the "ultimate reality" of their communities, except that the participants then enter an open

dialogue process. Dialogue should be based on openness and should reflect a genuine possibility of

change. Participants must be open to the possibility of a new truth that had not been revealed to

him, and the possibility for change.

Dialogue is needed for imagination, the ability to imagine the context, symbols, and local

knowledge in environmental involvement. It is called by John Dune as a "cross process", as the

starting point for entry into another culture, another way of life, other religions and with the same

process "back" by bringing new perspectives for its own culture, its own way of life, a way a more

authentic life itself.

Behind this process is the recognition of the relativity of belief or point of departure. One's own

point of departure is not the norm for others. This is the basis of the possibility that people will be

able to find all kinds of new answers, not the last and final answer, though the answer was obvious.

In the new era of historical consciousness, the science of relativity, with pluralism, demands a new

model of truth as well. However, it poses a threat to the old model of social intervention. It becomes

a threat to the validity of the top-down model. New models of social intervention exist not in its

ability to remove or absorb the other models, but rather in its ability to grow in that relationship.

Hence, in this pluralistic world there is no truth that stands alone, there is no truth that is

unchangeable. According to this model, a community should not be based on the values of "truth",

"justice", "peace" and "democracy" that are definitive, final and unalterable. A community needs to

be rooted in an authentic living experience, which enables the sense of security to grow with those

of other communities. Ultimately, the community enters the learning process in which they discover

that the fullness of the values of "truth", "justice", "peace" and "democracy” is endless.

It is important for social and humanitarian workers, working with essentially a vision of faith, to

have contextual knowledge and management skills of community organization and to be always

willing to respect ohers, especially the poor or the victim. In the empowerment movement model,

every person is a teacher, every place is a school. They need to be always ready to be involved in

authentic dialogue to expect a progress in achieving goals. Authentic dialogue process will result in

a reflexive development between the poor community members and the facilitators to discover

together new and authentic values of truth, justice and peace. Most importantly, the social and

humanitarian workers do not need to claim recognition of finality, normativity, and authenticity of

the values of truth, justice and peace.

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The facilitators need to continuously conduct introspections as follows:

a) Personally: Were the facilitator and his or her actions really able to move hearts, and to

touch the deepest consciousness of the citizens?

b) Intellectually: Were the messages delivered in the dialogue intellectually satisfying and

working to broaden the intellectual horizons for deeper understanding and coherence?

c) Practically: Were the messages delivered adding value to fulfillment? Were they liberating

in terms of both personal and shared experiences?

d) Finally: Has uniqueness and authenticity of the new values of truth, justice and true peace

become apparent among citizens as human subjects urban development? This depends

entirely on the dialogue process. Even more important is that members of the community

and the communities in a more pluralistic world should be able to listen to each other and to

share experiences with each other. This allows them to grow, with and from what each other

can donate, so that they can really join together as agents of change for the cause of truth,

justice and peace through community development.

Conclusions

The following seems to be some areas worth giving attention:

1. Jakarta City Spatial War: Intense capitalist development has propelled the urban growth

of Jakarta and brought the battle of economic space between the formal and informal,

between the haves and have-nots. Prioritization on mega projects and large-scale approaches

to urban redevelopment reflect the ignorance towards complexities of urban life, in which

the boundaries between the formal and informal are blurring, in which the formal is also

dependent on the ability of the informal; the legal is taking advantage of the vulnerabilities

of the illegal. Urban development in Jakarta is the material manifestation of inequalitiesAn

alternative development approach is inarguably necessary to bring the attention back to

human flourishing and strengthening social relationships rather than abstract notions of

economic growth.

2. On Poverty: There are various definitions and measurements of poverty. Currently, the

standards used for poverty alleviation are largely based on quantitative, numeric

measurements that are often standardized. Although these may be helpful to a certain extent,

it has not captured the holistic view of poverty. Poverty is more than lack of income or low

standard of living. Material deprivation leads to disempowerment, invisibility in the urban

development discourse, lack of acknowledgement, and lack of access in decision-making

processes in the society and in the city. Poverty alleviation is beyond providing material

assistance but more towards empowering poor communities to be independent and to be

able to obtain access for full opportunities to human flourishing. Consequently, this requires

acknowledgement that poverty is not an individual problem but a structural problem, in

which the role of the state and private corporations in society need to be redefined to achieve

a more just society.

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2. On Poor People: The poor are no less rational in terms of recall, weigh, and decide matters

concerning their dignity of life and death. The poor are often the actor and interpreter of

their own histories. They tend to develop their own way of understanding all life events,

natural objects and surroundings. The way of the poor is always likely to be rejected by the

mainstream. What they can offer and their innovations are rarely legitimized or integrated

into the mainstream values and needs. Steady stability in the way-of-life of the poor is

often a survival mechanism, proven to work for so long.

3. On Empowerment: Empowerment can be defined as the acquisition of power and access to

resources for livelihoods. Empowerment means having choice and control in all aspects of

life, through which there is an appreciation towards human, or in other words to "humanize

humans". Through empowerment "victims of development" will rise to become "agents of

development". Participatory empowerment includes respecting differences, local wisdom,

de-concentration of strength and increased independence. The core method of empowerment

is praxis, not as an application of theories, but rather using practice as a theoretical basis that

continuously evolve and be corrected in the process. The underlying assumption is that a

new truth is known and legitimate in action and action. The current problem is that "truth",

"justice", "peace", "democracy" are generally defined in intellectual terms and not through

experiences nor praxis in the world. Only in and through the process of transition and

change in practice (meaning in action and action) we truly become the way to obtain the

"truth", "justice", "peace" and "democracy".

4. On the Conception and Practice of Democracy6

The above problem has far-reaching implications for the way we conceive and practice

democracy. The following three diagrams may be of some use:

A. Traditional Model:

Government Power The Condition of Our Shared Life

(business, social, cultural, political, etc.)

As expected, in this mono-centered conception of power relations, democracy is a matter of

making government power publicly accountable. Here is the philosophical premise:

government power is assumed to be the only locus of de facto power in society (ontology);

therefore it is government power that is to explain the occurrence of societal problems

(epistemology); ergo it is also government power that is to be held responsible for those

problems (ethics). State-centered democracy is derived directly from this three-tiered

premise.

6 B. Herry-Priyono, “Some Basics of Our Problem”, INFID Paper, Jakarta, 14 September 2003.

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B. Polycentric Model

(the most moderate position based on the poly-centered conception of power):

Business power

Government power

Military power

Other societal powers (religion, technology, etc)

(and so forth)

There is nothing new about the above alternative model. It simply takes into account the

actual and factual dynamic of power relations in society. It is a shift from the mono-

centered to a poly-centered conception of power relations in society. The implication is

clear. To practice democracy by merely targeting government power is to deny the fact that

the de facto working of societal powers has gone beyond the scope of state institutions.

Indeed, democracy was invented in the first place to respond to the issue of public

accountability of any type of power that is socially consequential to our shared life, be it

government power, business power, military power, or religious power.

C. In the real dynamic of power relations, the above alternative model (B) may

have the following potential empirical outcome, i.e., Neo-liberalism:

Business/financial power Government, military, Condition of Shared Life

religious powers, etc.

As mentioned, model C is an outcome that is potentially inherent in the real dynamic of

power relations in society. To say that a neo-liberal political economy is now on the rise is

to accept the possibility of model C as the state of affairs. The irony is, while we admit that

the neo-liberal political economy is on the rise, we apparently remain stuck in the traditional

idea and practice of democracy (model A). There seems to be stagnancy in our reflections

about political philosophy and ethics.

Condition of Shared Life

(Indonesia as res publica)

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3. On Economic and Social Human Rights: This is another lacuna in the tapestry of our

movements. Perhaps due to historical legacy, the existing conception of human rights is

dominated by civil-political notion. As we probably know, civil-political human rights

were devised as a guard against the crushing might of government power. In other words,

civil-political human rights exists vis-à-vis the exercise of government power. The premise

is clear: it is the exercise of government power that is assumed to be the most

consequential to our shared life (cf. model A).

Once this premise is no longer sufficient, both empirically and conceptually – not because it

is wrong, but because it lags behind historical development – , then our idea of human rights

needs to be supplemented by a conception that takes into account the new historical

condition. In particular, the urgency is to be focused on the promotion of socio-economic

human rights. The reason is simple. If civil-political rights are exercised in relation to the

working of government power, economic human rights are exercised in relation to the

working of power that holds resources to provide employment upon which the economic

survival of more and more people depends. In an increasingly corporatized world, this could

be none other than business power. In this sense, addressing the problem of economic

human rights by simply targeting the government is barking up the wrong tree. Most human

rights lawyers would likely agree that socio-economic human rights are precisely what is

lacking, even in terms of initial formulation. There is thus an intellectual as well as practical

challenge to make a pioneering movement in this direction.

6. On the Public Character of Business Power: This is another lacuna that is so serious, to

the point that there is hardly non-governmental group in Indonesia working on the issue of

business practice/malpractice. If we are indeed serious about the dark side of neo-

liberalism, nurturing the growth of monitoring bodies, independent agencies, and non-

governmental organizations working on the issues of business power and business

governance becomes increasingly urgent for the near future. In this area, even laying the

intellectual foundation is yet to be started.

7. On Democracy: Again, this issue is closely related to the above point. Sometimes I wonder

whether the existing conception and practice of state-centered democracy will ever offer

remedy to our current malady. First, party politics has degenerated into a matter of sheer

power grabbing, without any civilizing projects worth mentioning. Second, as mentioned,

it is because the dynamic of power relations in society has somehow made the existing

conception and practice of state-centered democracy too limited. In many respects, this is

related to the new attention that should be given to socio-economic human rights.

Broadening the conception and practice of democracy along this line is a serious challenge

at all levels of our movement (intellectual, advocacy, mobilisation, etc).

9. On Decentralization: The purpose of decentralization is indeed a virtue if it is really to

bring decision-making practices closer to the local societies. Why has it turned into havoc?

The problem lies in the timing, sequencing, and pacing, which include both institutional

and non-institutional preparation. For all its noble purposes, the present decentralization

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agenda, instead of being a road to democratization, has apparently become an avenue to the

formation of local banditry.

10. On the Political Economy of Development: There are of course many technical issues

involved in this matter, from the problems of debt, privatization, corruption, to the issue of

investment. I would leave these issues to those with more technical expertise in each

specialized area. But one of the fundamental challenges involved is the impact of neo-

liberal agenda. In a non-technical term, it may be understood in the following comparative

way. The difference between the neo-liberal and social-democratic models of development

is that in the former there is no such a thing as a concerted development. In many respects,

talking about ‘development’ is irrelevant. Why? Because development, if any, is simply an

un-intended consequence of individual profit-seeking ventures. Social-democratic criticism

focuses not on the status of ‘market’, but on the public character of policies. In short,

social-democratic agenda of development focuses on injecting intended purposes into all

policies that are vital to public life. Seen in this light, the technical issue of

efficiency/inefficiency involved in the privatization of basic services (water, electricity,

health, etc), for example, is indeed crucial, yet our serious attention should be given to the

question whether an intended concerted effort aimed at the creation of common welfare

and the opportunities for full human flourishing are then possible. The mechanism of

business-government partnership is better to be judged in this way.

12. On Moment of Justice: “Moment of justice” is a period in our togetherness when

reconciliation or peace for long-term conflicts indicates the need for solution over

injustices experienced by various kinds of groups in the society. Moment of justice is a

requirement for each reconciliation effort. There is no true reconciliation without moment

of justice. Thus, what is called reconciliation should be differentiated from “consensus”

that had been the mantra of the New Order. There is a basic difference between

“consensus” and “reconciliation.” “Consensus” only means agreement. This country does

not even recognize opposing views. Since differences of views have been integral part of

our lives together, the word “consensus” is a very narrow and small-minded mantra. The

term “reconciliation” is far deeper in meaning. It acknowledges that living together also

includes the facts of sharp conflicts. But, the symptoms of vast terror, kidnapping, torture

and master-minded abusive actions in large scale experienced by this “Republic of

Paranoia” are no longer mere conflicts. They are conflicts that are born out of

repression. Repression is not certainty of history, but it is pathology in civilization.

Every government consists of smart people who can make calculations on the abusive

actions that they committed. Groups and their experiences of repression will be an

integral part in the moment of reconciliation. The symptoms of repression are not

imagination, but portrait and description of what have happened. Each reconciliation

process includes justice over various results of repressive actions committed previously.

Thus, before our experiences living under the oppression are gone from our collective

memory, in the name of this nation’s civilization, we want to rise and reveal it.

Jakarta, 1 June 2013

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