Dwi Atmanta – Thousands of protesters, reportedly from various regions across the archipelago, rallied outside the State Palace on Thursday in another push for long-awaited agrarian reform in the country.
But their cries looked to fall on deaf ears as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the target of the rally, was not in the palace at the time. The President was opening the congress of a little known Muslim organization in the East Java town of Malang when the protesters were demanding the government's protection for indigenous peoples, farmers, fishermen and the weak and poor from eviction and marginalization resulting from land acquisitions by capital owners.
The huge demonstration came against the backdrop of land disputes that turned violent and claimed lives in Mesuji, which abuts Lampung and South Sumatra, and in the West Nusa Tenggara regency of Bima.
There were no reports of fatalities in the rally on Thursday, but angry masses tore down a section of the iron fence that encircles the House of Representatives' complex in Senayan, about five kilometers south of the palace. Both the palace and the House are in fact traditional places for people to assemble to articulate their grievances, but the executive and legislative powers hardly heeded the demands.
Land disputes, many times pitting local communities against corporations or the government, have been rampant and have often triggered clashes between civilians and security troops whose job is actually to protect the civilians.
Conflicts over land occur partly because of the legal confusion relating to land resources management. While the 52-year-old Land Law recognizes the right of traditional communities over lands they inherited from ancestors, the laws enacted decades later to accommodate investments fail to make reference to the agrarian law.
Data by the Indonesian Farmers' Union found that many of the conflicts, which involved farmers, private companies, mining and farming companies, drinking water companies and state-owned enterprises, have become protracted without settlement.
In most cases, the conflicts were triggered by diminishing land areas and a lack of land reform.
In fact, the National Land Agency recorded 2,791 land disputes last year. With the House endorsing the long-delayed law on land acquisition for infrastructure projects last month, it is feared the number of agrarian conflicts will increase this year. Thursday's rally served as a timely reminder.
Did the President deliberately avoid the clamorous demonstration, which had been publicly announced a few days in advance? There was no statement that substantiated the suspicion. But it was not the first time that demonstrators shouted at an empty State Palace, venting their anger instead in front of the House compound.
Yudhoyono had left the capital city a day before the rally took place. Accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and some of his Cabinet ministers, the President toured Malang, Madiun and his birthplace Pacitan. It was the first outing for Ani since recovering from typhoid fever, which had forced her and her husband to spend New Year's Eve at hospital.
It has been widely rumored that Yudhoyono could not stomach the harsh criticism, hence the reason why he often promotes "polite democracy". A source close to the President said Yudhoyono had insisted he would not bow to pressure, let alone from demonstrators, and no one could force his or her will against him because he had been legitimately elected.
Despite his absence from the capital, the President certainly followed what was going on and was updated about the protest. Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said the government was still discussing with the legislative body the issue of agrarian reform to find a solution that would offer a sense of justice.
During his campaign for the 2004 presidential election, Yudhoyono did promise to push through agrarian reform as mandated by the People's Consultative Assembly. But throughout his first term in office and since winning re-election, the promise has remained unfulfilled.
Yudhoyono's failure to deliver on his promises is perhaps the reason for his declining approval rating. A survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) revealed on Sunday that public trust in his government has hit its lowest level since he assumed power in 2004.
The annual survey focused on the public perception of the Yudhoyono administration's ability to enforce the law, particularly against corruption. It found that public trust stood at 42.4 percent this year, a decline from 44 percent in 2011, 52 percent in 2010, 59 percent in 2009 and 77 percent in 2008.
Indonesia's war on corruption does not win much praise from either domestic constituents or the international community, despite the President's initiatives to curb graft. This all-time low in public approval for the President has something to do – whether he likes it or not – with the impunity that has allowed certain figures from Yudhoyono's Democratic Party to escape justice in the high-profile corruption cases centering on the party's former treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin.
The Democratic Party, however, felt the pinch of the fight against corruption this week. The Supreme Court convicted on Tuesday non-active Bengkulu governor Agusrin Najamuddin of corruption, overturning the lower court's decision to acquit him last year. Agusrin, a Democratic Party politician, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
Another Democratic Party politician, Amrun Daulay, was found guilty of corruption on Thursday and sentenced to 17 months in jail for his role in the budget misuse involving former social services minister Bachtiar Chamsyah. Amrun announced his resignation from the party on Friday.