Imagining Autonomous Villages

'AUTOCHTONOUS VILLAGES':
Our Main Agenda

The village is the very basic unit of Indonesian society as a whole. Any efforts for social transformation in this country should be started from the village level. Essentially, the ideal form of Indonesian society can be achieved only when villages throughout the country can be transformed into self-sufficient and autonomous entities, an autochthonic system.

This was one of the main conclusions of the Strategic Planning Workshop of YPRI held from 10-13 September, 2007, at the PERDIKAN Training Centre, Pakem, Jogyakarta. The Workshop was facilitated by Wiladi Budiharga and Indri from SCN, Jakarta, as a part of an agreement for three years of cooperation between D&P (Development and Peace) Canada and YPRI, which effectively started in July 2007. Besides all members of YPRI's Board and management staff, the workshop was also attended by five activists of UNDESA, a Timor Leste NGO based in Dili and Suai, as part of their two week internship program. They particularly followed the workshop to learn about the methodology and processes involved in strategic program planning and also, of course, to observe how the ideas and concepts of the 'autonomous village' could be implemented.

Imagining 'autonomous villages' is not an illusion. The roots can be traced back to the social history of Indonesia, especially in Jawa and particularly in the Jogyakarta region. Originally, villages in Indonesia and Jawa were formed as autonomous entities, self-determined and self-sufficient. Colonialism, and then market capitalism, has turned them into marginalized and dependent systems. In the Jogyakarta area, even in the feudal period of old kingdoms, there have always been certain areas which are treated and respected as 'tana perdikan' (literally 'free regions') whereby the villages inside this region have full autonomy to regulate their own domestic affairs. Except in several aspects of external relations with other regions or kingdoms, these villages are almost totally independent from governance structures and political dynamics of central authority in the palaces. They even have the privileged right to resist and disobey authority.

This historical legacy has inspired three organizational members of INSIST based in Central Jawa and Jogyakarta —ie. YPRI, PMT (Perhimpunan Mitra Tani or Association of Friends of the Peasants), and LPTP (Lembaga Pengembangan Teknologi Pedesaan or Institute for the Advancement of Rural Technology). They have reformulated these ideas and concepts as their organizational vision and generative theme of their social transformation programs. In March 2007, these INSIST members held a consolidation meeting with their Core Team of Community Organizers and Popular Educators, consisting of 34 senior activists, who have been working within local communities in tens of villages throughout Jogyakarta, Central and East Java for years. They have finally agreed to form an Association of Popular Educators for Social Transformation (Perhimpunan Pendidik Rakyat untuk Perubahan Sosial, abbreviated as PERDIKAN, with precisely the same meaning as the term 'free region' in local history). This is a 'loose' network of concerned individuals whereby YPRI, PMT, LPTP have become the 'umbrella organizations' and 'supporting systems' (among others, to back them up with program management, database and information systems, and fund-raising schemes). It will bring possibilities for these community organizers and popular educators to concentrate on their respective areas and local communities.

PERDIKAN Campus: A Dream Come True...

It has been a long time dream to have our own training centre. Finally, we at INSIST are now realizing it through one of our members, YPRI. This organization has accomplished the first phase of construction of a training centre situated in Sambirejo Hamlet, Pakem Sub-district, Sleman District, Jogyakarta. Precisely, the site is 18.7 kilometers from downtown Jogyakarta City, about 15 minutes drive to the north via the main road to Kaliurang Mountain Resort and the slopes of the Merapi Volcano (see map below).

Starting with a simple inauguration by members of the INSIST Board of Trustees, Board of Supervisors, and Board of Executives in January 2007, the construction was finally completed and immediately put to use in early August 2007. The first users were naturally the members of the Core Team of PERDIKAN who hold their regular meetings there. The current workshop of YPRI and UNDESA from Timor Leste is the second user. YPRI, in cooperation with D&P, plan to hold a multimedia training program there next November—a training for new local community organizers and popular educators currently recruited by PERDIKAN members.

Although all of the facilities are not yet completely finished—now just the main office building and multipurpose hall (see picture below: the rear of the hall seen from terrace paddy fields) has been completed—however, the compound is already fully equipped with electricity, water, and 24 hour internet access. Other buildings (multimedia studio, caretaker’s house, guest cottages, kitchen and dining hall, warehouse, and demo-plots) will be gradually built from now on. For that purpose, YSIK (Yayasan Sosial Indonesia untuk Kemanusiaan or the Indonesian Social Foundation for Humanity, another member of INSIST based in Jakarta) have bought an additional 1600m2 of land attached to the current site. So, the total size of the campus is now 3100m2.

Managed daily by YPRI staff, we named the facility 'PERDIKAN Campus' since the initial purpose was to be the main training ground for PERDIKAN members and their respective local communities. However, the facilities can also be used by other parties as one of the income sources for maintenance and financial support for PERDIKAN's activities. YPRI's management is now preparing a mechanism for this kind of service. If you are interested, please directly contact: SECRETARIAT YPRI.

see also: NEW COMPOUNDS of INSIST NETWORK...