Mon, 12/26/2011 - 11:14am
There is a different 'red wine', not a kind of liquor. This is the name of a new local government program to eradicate poverty in Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), one of the poorest area in Indonesia. The name is stand for 'Anggaran untuk Rakyat Menuju Sejahtera' (Budget for People Towards Prosperity). Some of INSIST's members are involves as facilitators and supervisiors to keep the program not merely as a 'old wine in new bottle'.
Sun, 12/04/2011 - 8:57pm
“During emergency response, the foreign non-government organizations can provide aid even though not through the procedures of proposal compiling, memorandum of understanding, and work-plan,” said BNPB officials in a meeting in Jakarta, Nov,30, 2011. But, there are lot of doubts on the capacity of government and questions about the involvement of intelligence agents for supervision.
Sat, 11/19/2011 - 3:57pm
On 10 November 2011, a seminar of ‘One Year Post-disaster Merapi’ was held in Muhammadiyah Central Building, Yogyakarta. The topic was ‘the dilemma of the single role of the government and the existence of the role of the society in the recovery of post-disaster Merapi in the district of Sleman’. Although particular, the discussion elaborated some crucial issues on public policies and government responses.
Mon, 10/24/2011 - 2:52pm
Not less than 13 District Regulations in Sinjai Regency, South Sulawesi Province, have resulted through 'counter-drafting' from village level. Faster and cheaper but, the most important, opening a possible breakthrough for the current oligarchic political and legislation system. This is a report from Ende, Flores Island.
Fri, 09/09/2011 - 11:21pm
In every dry season every year, huge forest fires happened in some areas of Indonesia, especially in the mainland of Sumatera and Kalimantan (Indonesian part of Borneo). Mitra Aksi, member of INSIST in Jambi, reported that smokes of forest fires now have reached threshold level. As usual every year, government responses is going slowly...
Wed, 08/24/2011 - 3:33pm
Food policies and the politics of agriculture in Indonesia is still unchanged. Its main orientation is to increase production to fulfill market demands instead of felt-needs of local people. A new published book have clearly explain this issue in the case of South SUlawesi Province, one of the main producers of rice in this country.
Sat, 08/20/2011 - 9:12am
In December 2010, the price of chillies was suddenly rocketing up to more than IDR 100,000 (USD 12) per kilogram. Three months later, in March 2011, the price fell down less than IDR 10,000 (USD 1.1) per kilogram. Farmers and housewives blaming huge flows of imported chillies. And, in fact, not only chillies but even salts and cassavas, two of traditional products of local farmers, were already imported!
Old Wine in New Bottle?
Questioning Government Capacities
Engagement of Civil Society
Involving People Directly in Legislation Process
Smoke of Forest Fire: Government Response Going Slowly
Politicizing Food Issues in South Sulawesi
Even Salt & Cassava Already Imported!
img Feature

Isolation as Social Protection: Stories from Ranah Kemumu

Isolated location was commonly assumed as one of the main obstacles in disaster management approaches. The assumption, consequently, always tend to mobilize external supplies to recover or reconstruct an isolated area which is affected by a disaster. This is an excerpt of field research report shows a different one. In case of disaster in a remote village inside the Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra, on the contrary, isolated location became a 'blessing in distance' for local community to revitalize their own local resources and, in turn, their own resilience.

Hasriadi Ary | 24/01 | Comment: 0 | more »

Escape from Village: Sketch of Social Change in Flores Island

One of the most obvious social phenomenon of Indonesia in the last three decades is huge flow of villagers went out to seek new and better livelihood. They became migrant workers in towns and cities throughout the country or even in abroad. There are a lot of analysis have been made trying to explain the reasons why such migration continously increasing. Ami Priwardhani --who is currently doing a grounded research on local community resilience in Flores Island-- wrote a sketch of the issue in two coastal villages of the island. Her short story was clearly indicates that development program so far have failed to maintain villages as favourable living space and main sources of livelihood, especially for local young people. It was means that one of big challenges for building local community resilience is not coming only from natural disasters or climate change but also closely related with structural problems in economic system and development policies as a whole.    

Contributor | 23/01 | Comment: 0 | more »

Story From Geneva

 I was very interested in what Yoka Brandt had conveyed. Because we have felt there are enough serious problems for a long time associated with global economic policies that made poor countries and developing countries become more vulnerable. Therefore I emphasize and continue what Ms. Brandt has conveyed: "we need a new world economic order that is fairer. This issue is very relevant and structural especially for developing countries like Indonesia that are always trapped in debt bondage. "Although I am fully aware of this problem will be the theme of North-South issues, with a completion time frame is also long and not easy.

Saleh Abdullah | 28/08 | Comment: 0 | more »

A Coffee House Democracy

Stopping by an old coffee house in Donggala, once the busiest port town in Central Sulawesi, offered not only delicious morning coffee. It also allow us to peek into some stories and hot issues of the town, including its politics.

Nurhady Sirimorok | 16/08 | Comment: 0 | more »

Travel Notes from Sumba Island

sumba_girlSumba is one of the most exotic tropical small islands in Indonesia. Famously for its huge savannah, wild horses, unique handwoven fabrics, traditional architecture, and ancient funeral rites, Sumba has frequently appeared in many novels, poems, photographs, movies, and travelling stories. Here is a different angel of view about this dried and rocky island, a sketch of social and ecological changes...

Roem Topatimasang | 22/07 | Comment: 0 | more »
img Opinion

Unchanged Melody of the State to Alter the Natives

noaulu_warriorWhat happen when a resettlement project that brings a modernity package, bended along the way by elites in every corner, and imposed to peoples with different world view? After many failures and criticism, the government in Indonesia still stubbornly enforcing resettlement schemes to the traditional local communities in the name of 'development' and 'progress'...

Nurhady Sirimorok | 15/08 | Comment: 0 | more »

Moral Hazard in Economic Development

greedyA farmer credit scheme dispatched by the Government of Indonesia during the height of crisis in 1999 turned into something close to an inferno: low repayment, missallocation, dirty poltical intrigue, and jailed corruption cases.      

Nurhady Sirimorok | 15/08 | Comment: 0 | more »

Demistifying Food Issues

rice_in_basketAlmost no politicians, government officials, even intellectuals in Indonesia today who are seriously talking about national policy on foods. They are very busy with power politics towards next national election in 2014. While, in fact, millions of people in this country still and more desperately facing a continous increasing prices of foods, decreasing agricultural subsidies and lesser protection for local farmers and, of course, flooding influx of importing foods even to simple items --such as salt or chillies-- that actually can be sufficiently produced by local farmers. Government policies is still trapping in an old myths of big scale and market oriented agroindustrial complex that food issues can be simply solved with increasing production and market mechanism...

Mad!... Even salt and cassava already imported!!

Roem Topatimasang | 09/08 | Comment: 0 | more »

Breakthrough Against Corruption

election_poster_marosHuge money game come into politics through two main 'entrance doors': electoral campaign and legislation processes. That kind of dirty practices already part --an 'inherent failure'-- of representatives or electoral democracy. To close the doors, is needed a radical change in the present and dominant belief and assumptions about political system and democracy itself.

Roem Topatimasang | 22/07 | Comment: 0 | more »

Reclaiming Democracy

Democracy become something strange and unreachable, even unimaginable, by majority of ordinary people in many parts of the world, esepcially the grassroots in remote places. This is because of democracy have coopted by higher political powers, manipulated by market, and oversophisticated by intellectuals. Democracy already disinherited in the real life of ordinary people. This is a provoking idea to reclaiming democracy and development by relocalize them at local level.

Roem Topatimasang | 19/07 | Comment: 0 | more »