Restoring peatlands

Central Kalimantan, home to the largest remaining peatland forests in the country, has three million hectares of peatlands that store more than 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide - the main contributor to global warming. The Jakarta Post's Adianto P. Simamora visited the Sebangau National Park conservation area last week to observe peatland restoration projects that are aimed at preventing emissions from being released into the atmosphere.

Kusnawi, a resident of Sebangau, sat in a base camp at the entrance to the Sebangau National Park and watched visitors arriving at the area, which is located 55 kilometers south of the Central Kalimantan provincial capital of Palangka Raya.

He reminded them not to start any fires in the highly inflammable forest.

"My job is to check water levels in the canals every day," said Kuswadi, a father of two. He spends three weeks a month in the park.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia has developed several conservation projects in the area and hired Kusnadi in 2005 to monitor the daily condition of the peatlands and to water seeds that were planted to restore the degraded park.

The Forestry Ministry designated Sebangau, which covers more than 568,700 hectares and is more than 10 meters in some places, as a national park in 2004.

Currently, 66,000 hectares of the reserve have been classified as "degraded" and have no big trees.

"As of today, we have only managed to restore 850 hectares by planting trees," Sebangau national park management unit head Rosdy Abaza told reporters.

The project was hampered by a lack of funds, he added.

"We only have Rp 8 billion *US$880,000* in the annual budget, which includes salaries. It's much lower than the estimated minimum budget of Rp 80 billion," he said.

Sebangau National Park has 46 employees.

Located between the Katingan and Sebangau rivers, Sebangau used to be a logging concession granted to 13 forest concession holders, despite its rich biodiversity.

The concession holders left behind thousands of canals in the peatland forest, which drained the area.

Canals were previously used as waterways which ran deep into the forest to transport illegally-logged timber.

"We have to block the canals to stabilize the water level. It's the cheapest way to restore the peatland," said Rosdy.

More than 200 dams have been built this year to block water flow, at a cost of Rp 20 and Rp 80 million per dam, to allow the water table of drained peatlands to rise.

The reserve and WWF Indonesia plan to block 400 canals this year, he added.

"Before trees can be planted to restore function of peatland, the water level must be raised," WWF Indonesia's Central Kalimantan chapter program manager Rosenda Kasih said.

If new trees are not planted and canals are blocked, emissions will continue to be released from the peatlands, she added.

The park is located near the abandoned "1 million hectares peatlands project" (PLG) developed under former president Soeharto.

There are also thousands of canals in the area.

Peat is an early form of coal that develops over thousands of years.

As plants in peat swamp decompose they produce a brown mass of twigs, branches and leaves, which in turn traps tons of carbon emissions.

When it's draining, the peat turns into a highly combustible material, prone to fires in the dry season.

Central Kalimantan suffered massive fires due to the forest conversions and peatland exploitation in 2002, 2005 and 2006.

The discussions of the role of peatlands are taking center stage in line with climate change talks that have called for a moratorium on peatlands conversions.

Experts say peatlands forests store about 50 times as much carbon dioxide as other tropical forests.

A study by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) says that Indonesia's peatlands contribute 1 billion tons of emissions per year, or half of the country's total emissions.

Indonesia, which has pledged to cut carbon emissions 26 percent by 2020, has also promised to stop conversions of peatlands.

A draft presidential regulation proposed a five-year moratorium on peatland conversions and promised a review of concession permits to mitigate climate change.

Currently, peatlands with a depth of less than 3 meters can be converted from residential to business purposes for oil palm or mining companies.

Industrial timber concessions, forest concession holders to oil palm companies have been running business on peatland in Central Kalimantan and elsewhere in the archipelago.

Rosenda warned that although the government has designated Sebangau as national park, threat of forest fires and the expansion of oil palm plantations remained in place.

"What's worrisome is the Central Kalimantan administration's plan to reduce the area of Sebangau national park to allow oil palm companies to expand," she said.

"The future of Sebangau National Park will depend on whether the Forestry Ministry will approve spatial planning revisions in Central Kalimantan."

The WWF Indonesia is currently conducting a preliminary study of 50,000 hectares of Sebangau National Park as part of a pilot project for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

"We are in first stage to prepare baseline to count the carbon emissions in the peatlands. The study will determine total of emissions that could be protected if the water level rises," she said

The Dayaks live

Our river, our life: Residents cross the Mendalam River in West Kalimantan on a motorized wood raft. Members of several local Dayak communities that live along the river said that deforestation has led to regular flooding and murky waters. JP/Evi Mariani Our river, our life: Residents cross the Mendalam River in West Kalimantan on a motorized wood raft. Members of several local Dayak communities that live along the river said that deforestation has led to regular flooding and murky waters. JP/Evi Mariani

For members of the Dayak Iban community, the kampung where the clear water flows into the river, the plenitude of trees grow and the fertile fields yield rice is Sungai Utik, their home for centuries.

One day in October 2007, a representative of companies that claimed to have permit from the forestry ministry came to Sungai Utik said the kampung was part of a 88,000-hectare area called “Unit 1”, where the company could log.

Two months previously, former forestry minister Malam Sambat Kaban came to Sungai Utik and gave the community an eco-label certificate for preserving their natural forest.

The contradiction puzzled the residents of Sungai Utik.

“It was as if the minister’s visit earlier meant nothing. On the map, there are no signs that they recognize that there are human beings here,” said Raymondus Remang, the head of Rantau Prapat village, which administers Sungai Utik.

Raymondus said the company’s permit was issued by the Forestry Ministry.

“To them, there are monkeys and birds here — not human beings. Maybe to them we’re monkeys,” said Apai Janggut, a respected figure in Sungai Utik.

“Once, they came here to log the trees. We told them about disasters and diseases that come from destroyed forests. They did not understand. In the end, they are the monkeys.”

For generations, people in Sungai Utik have cleared some forest land to grow rice for themselves.

Residents keep half the kampung, which is comprised of 3,667 hectares of natural forest, as a protected area and reserve the other half as their customary forest, where they hunt boars and clear some forest for their personal needs. “The customary law says a family cannot log more than 30 trees a year. In reality, however, a family cuts no more than five trees on average. Some haven’t cut any trees for years,” Raymondus said.

Forest living: Residents of Benua Tengah village sit in a traditional long house made from wood taken from a forest reserve established and maintained by the community. The house has been renovated several times, but its supporting beams, which were made from dozens of tall trees, were built by their ancestors almost a century ago. JP/Evi Mariani Forest living: Residents of Benua Tengah village sit in a traditional long house made from wood taken from a forest reserve established and maintained by the community. The house has been renovated several times, but its supporting beams, which were made from dozens of tall trees, were built by their ancestors almost a century ago. JP/Evi Mariani

In a participatory mapping made in the late 1990s, the residents decided to set aside more than 2,000 hectares for government’s production forest. However, they prefer to keep all the forests in a good shape.

Apai Janggut, 96, had an experience working in logging companies throughout Kalimantan during his younger years, which gave him knowledge about what a forest destruction could bring to communities like Sungai Utik.

“When they cut the woods, they logged earnestly, leaving nothing but bare forest,” he said. “That forest-destructing diseases, there’s no cure, no doctor for those who want instant wealth. We have to prevent ourselves from getting the diseases.”

Apai said he experienced enough not to want such destruction happened to Sungai Utik.

From stories of other kampung whose forests have been damaged, Sungai Utik residents knew they had to preserve the forests. Dayak Kayaan residents of villages along Mendalam River, however, knew the disasters first hand.

For 30 years, since the 1970s, a logging company has cut the forests on both sides of the river. When the company came, they promised welfare from the employment and economic boost from the activity. What the Kayaan Mendalam residents got instead were meager salary plus new environmental, social and health problems.

“I once worked for them. But locals here could only get to peel off the outer part of the wood. No one could climb the career to be a supervisor,” Gregorius Ding said. His wage back then was Rp 3,500 (40 US cents) per day, not enough to support a decent life, he said. Obviously, such amount of money would not be enough to pay for the environmental damages in the villages.

The residents said from January to June this year alone, the Datah Diaan village had experienced nine floods. “It rains for an hour and the river rises so fast,” Agustinus Haang said. When it rains, water of Mendalam River gets murky with soil it brings from the upstream. “But today, even during the dry season, the water is not as clear anymore.”

They also have to hunt for boars farther and need motor boat for fishing. “Then, our grandfathers and fathers only had to paddle to fish,” Haang went on.

After the forests were cut clear, the number of malaria cases in the villages increased.

Another problem is the higher number of single mothers with fatherless children who have to survive after their husbands, mostly are outsiders who work for the company, abandoned them after the woods had all been gone.

Wonderful, dark and deep: The Sungai Utik’s backyard is a forested area. To reach the kampung’s primary forest of 3,700 hectares, people must pass through the Dayak Iban’s indigenous reserve forest and walk for three days deep in the woods. JP/Evi MarianiWonderful, dark and deep: The Sungai Utik’s backyard is a forested area. To reach the kampung’s primary forest of 3,700 hectares, people must pass through the Dayak Iban’s indigenous reserve forest and walk for three days deep in the woods. JP/Evi Mariani

When a new company came to the Kayaan community, the situation got heated and emotional. The residents pulled all the stops to block companies that want to take away what is left from Mendalam forests. “Legal or illegal, it doesn’t matter, we don’t want them,” they said.

Since 2006, the villagers have traveled as far as to Jakarta to assert their will: They want the remaining forests to be preserved. But they have been ping-ponged from the regency office to the Forestry Ministry office. They have also met with the Kapuas Hulu Council. So far, no one has given any significant support.

“Every election, we voted. National legislative body, local council, president, governor, regent, we always voted [for them]. Those who we had voted for, always the ones winning. But nothing changed. Now we have been exhausted, we don’t want to deal with the government anymore,” Ding said.

When the residents met with the local district heads recently in June, they no longer expected for a sincere support from them. What they wanted was to make it clear to the district heads that all Kayaan Mendalam residents reject any companies that wanted to clear the remaining forests.

One of the district heads, Alfiansyah, told the visiting residents that the government acted based on regulations. “The government does not see borders. What the government knows is that Mendalam is a production forest. That’s the regulation,” he said, while with his right hand gesturing a movement of “the government” seeing a land from above. “I’m here to help enforce the regulations, that’s what a district leader should do,” Alfiansyah said.

But regulations are not always right, Dayak Kayaan indigenous leader Ignatius Sebastianus Faranli replied. The residents were witnesses of floods, diseases, climate change and scarcity of fish, he said.

“As a district leader, you don’t take sides. We understand. But as a human being, deep inside your heart, you should know what is right.”

“If you don’t stand on the veins of the tree you cut, you don’t know anything. But we, who live under the thickness of the leaves, know what’s right. Our environment is something we must protect,” he concluded.

Go Away..

For more than a century, the Kutai community of East Kalimantan has been organizing the Erau Tempong Tawar ritual to cast out evil and bad luck.

Erau, a festive celebration, is a cultural icon for the Kutai ethnic group. This ceremony, important for local people, has long attracted interest among domestic and foreign tourists, even being attended by representatives of Southeast Asian member nations of ASEAN in the 1990s.

This year’s Erau, which ran from July 26 to Aug. 3 at a cost of about Rp 4.5 billion, was held at the Tenggarong Seberang Stadium in Kutai Kartanegara regency in East Kalimantan, with around 2,000 spectators from Indonesia and other countries.

Windfall: The weeklong Erau festival is good business for local entrepreneurs selling traditional handicrafts. JP/Nurni S.Windfall: The weeklong Erau festival is good business for local entrepreneurs selling traditional handicrafts. JP/Nurni S.

“Erau is one of East Kalimantan’s cultural assets that enrich our national culture,” said East Kalimantan Deputy Governor Farid Wadjdy. “We should therefore preserve the Erau Festival for future generations. I feel very grateful to the Kutai Kartanegara sultanate, Kutai Kartanegara regency and people as well as all relevant parties for the success of the celebration this year.”

The weeklong festival is marked by an opening and a closing ceremony, all related to the Ayu, or the pillar of the throne, of the Sultanate.

The opening ceremony begins with the erection of the Ayu by the Sultan of Kutai Kartanegara ing Martadipura XX H. Adji Mohammad Salehoeddin II in the court of Kutai Kartanegara, or Mulawarman Museum, in Tenggarong. It is also marked by the ritual release of jagau or roosters into the air by the Sultan and regional officials.

To close the celebrations at the end of the week, the Ayu is removed.

Next in line: Youths in traditional costume guard the entrance to the royal palace as the king takes his bath. JP/Nurni S.Next in line: Youths in traditional costume guard the entrance to the royal palace as the king takes his bath. JP/Nurni S.

While the Ayu is in place, the Sultan is not allowed to step foot on the ground in order to remain blessed.

During this weeklong period, the Sultan is required to shower at a fixed time each day in front of
the court, thus open to public view, to a distance of two to three meters only.

While this bathing ritual, called beluluh, is being performed, nobody may pass before the Sultan. After he is bathed, visitors can approach and collect some of the colored rice – tambak karang – used by the Sultan in the ritual.

The tambak karang rice offering, which is believed to bring benevolence or good luck to those who observe it properly, is prepared every year for the Sultan’s beluluh ritual. The colorful rice is arranged on yellow cloths to produce decorations in the form of dragons.

As always, the rituals that marked the peak of this year’s Erau festival were mengulur naga (lowering of the dragons) and belimbur (the sprinkling of sacred water).

In the dragon-lowering ceremony, the Sultan and his relatives lower from their position a pair of ornamental replica dragons, one male and one female. The two dragons, each 10 meters long, had been previously placed on either side of the court in the Mulawarman Museum.

Among those attending the dragon ritual were Sultan Kartanegara H Adji Salehoeddin II and his wife, East Kalimantan Deputy Governor Farid Wadjdy and Acting Kutai Kartanegara Regent Sjachruddin.
Before the dragons were removed, Asmuni, a royal family member, read the story of the Erau dragons. The dragon procession was preceded by Tempong Tawar, a ceremony to dispel evil and attract virtue for the entire Kutai community; this was conducted by Adipati Praboe Anoem Soerya Adiningrat.

Praboe Anoem then led the procession carrying the dragons to Kutai Lama village in Anggana district, which was the site of the first capital of the Kutai Kartanegara kingdom.

As the dragon parade left, the Sultan sprinkled sacred water, known as air tuli, from Kutai Lama to start the belimbur. At the wail of a siren, all those present began sprinkling each other with the water.
During the festival, other rituals and traditions were also performed. Among these were menjamu benua (offerings of lavish meals); Kutai’s traditional jepen dance and oral narrative art; seluang mudik (encircling the Ayu); belian (healing), besaong manok (cock fighting) and menjala (coin tossing). There was also a pilgrimage to Kutai Lama (Old Kutai) and to the tomb of Aji Imbut, the founder of Tenggarong.

A grain of luck: Women arrange the tambak karang rice into colorful motifs. The rice is used during the king’s bathing ritual and later will be thrown to waiting members of the public as a sign of good luck. JP/Nurni S.A grain of luck: Women arrange the tambak karang rice into colorful motifs. The rice is used during the king’s bathing ritual and later will be thrown to waiting members of the public as a sign of good luck. JP/Nurni S.

Originally, Erau was held for the succession or coronation of a sovereign. The first such festival marked the initiation of five-year-old Aji Batara Agung Dewa Sakti, who was the first king of Kutai Kartanegara (1300–1325) and his coronation.

The tradition continued and, as it grew, Erau also included the conferment of titles by the king on community figures for their meritorious deeds for the kingdom.

In 1960, when the kingdom of Kutai Kartanegara was made into an autonomous region, Kutai regency, the Kutai people continued the ritual as a popular celebration and cultural festival, included
even on the agenda of the regency administration.

Erau also served to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of Tenggarong (on Sept. 29, 1782) as the capital of Kutai (now Kutai Kartanegara) regency. Later, Erau was held every two years.
Erau in the style of the Kutai Kartanegara sultanate was last held in 1965, when the sultan’s son Aji
Pangeran Adipati Praboe Anoem Soerya Adiningrat was inducted. In later years, Erau took its place as Kutai’s cultural festival and customary ritual.

In 1971, under the initiative of then Kutai regent Achmad Dahlan and the last sultan before autonomy Sultan A.M. Parikesit, Erau ceremonies began to be handled by the Kutai regency with some exceptions such as the conferment of titles.

For five years from 2003, however, there was no Erau. Following earnest petitions by the Kutai people, Erau was resumed last year. The Erau Cultural Festival is now included in the tourism office’s calendar of annual events.

Acting Regent Sjachruddin said Kutai Kartanegara regency would fully support future Erau events.
“Erau has become a cultural icon of East Kalimantan to be conserved for posterity,” he said. “It also has a major tourism potential that merits due attention today.”

The ancient game of thieves

The people of Tenganan Pengringsingan caught two thieves red-handed on a Saturday afternoon.

The pilferers, Kepra and Beben, were too busy stealing slices of pork meat dried on the village’s open community hall Bale Agung to notice the villagers had embushed them. The two youths tried to run away, but the villagers cornered them before they had any chance to escape.

As a punishment, the villagers forced the suspects to apply makeup on their faces. Slices of pork meats were tied to their heads, waists, wrists and ankles. The suspects were told to wear odd-looking crowns made up of dried coconut leaves and skirts out of dried banana leaves. The villagers finally colored the suspects’ bare chests with markers.

When they were done with the suspects, Kepra and Beben could have passed for transgender members of royalty from the Kingdom of Loonies.

The punishment didn’t end there. The suspects were escorted across the village, providing ample opportunities for villagers to mock them. Local residents, who lined the street, also had the right to add “fashionable” items to the suspects’ already bizarre costumes.

By the end of the march, the suspects met their heaviest penalty; Tenganan-style forced labor. The villagers had free reins to ask the suspects to do any chore as long as it was related to the preparation of the village’s major religious ritual.

“The suspects must perform whatever tasks the villagers require of them,” the village chief I Komang Karyawan said.

The catch? Kepra and Beben were not real thieves. These innocent young men were handpicked to impersonate thieves in the village’s ancient game of thieves.

Known as Maling-malingan, derived from the word maling (thief), the game is an integral part of the village’s annual religious festival Usaba Sambah, held on the fifth month of the Tenganan calendar, or June in the Gregorian calendar.

“The game is an annual ritual, which has been carried out over centuries,” Karyawan said.

Playtime: Young women in Tenganan play on the Ferris wheel-like, sacred wooden structure during the Usaba Sambah festival.Playtime: Young women in Tenganan play on the Ferris wheel-like, sacred wooden structure during the Usaba Sambah festival.

Karyawan didn’t know precisely when the first Maling-malingan was held. Local folklore only detailed the nature surrounding the first Maling-malingan.

“It was first held several centuries ago during a Usaba Sambah,” he said.

It is believed several villagers stole the meats reserved for sacred offerings during that festival. Locals then devised the game as a way to punish perpetrators.

“It was a sort of collective punishment aimed at humiliating the thieves,” he stressed.

This collective punishment still exists today. Citing an article in local customary law, Karyawan stated a thief would be given the same punishments as in the Maling-malingan.

“Fortunately, we haven’t witnessed any thefts for decades,” he said.

Tenganan Pegringsingan, located 70 kilometers east of Denpasar, is an ancient village home to Bali Aga, a term generally used to refer to indigenous Balinese although it literally means the mountain people of Bali.

Tenganan Pegringsingan’s Bali Aga observe different rituals and hold different religious beliefs from the majority of Balinese. While the large majority of Balinese follow the Trimurti concept of Hinduism, with its three main gods, Brahma the Creator, Wisnu the Sustainer and Siwa the Destroyer, cultural artifacts suggest the people of Tenganan are the last remaining worshippers of Indra, the lord of the sky and thunder in the Hindu pantheon.

The villagers observe strict monogamy. Those who marry outsiders or practice polygamy are banished from the village and stripped of all hereditary rights. The community owns most of the land and property, and the village vehemently protects the forest around the village.

The village is one of the island’s main tourist attractions, providing visitors with a chance to see the weavers of rare double ikat cloth Geringsing in action, as well as the Perang Pandan, during which local youths partake in a duel using clubs of thorny pandanus leaves.

Who moved my meat?: A villager from Tenganan, Bali, who was handpicked to play the Maling-malingan game of thief, is covered in makeup and wears a crown with pieces of meat hanging from it.Who moved my meat?: A villager from Tenganan, Bali, who was handpicked to play the Maling-malingan game of thief, is covered in makeup and wears a crown with pieces of meat hanging from it.

HELP..USSSSS

Aftermath: Rescuers and residents walk on a road covered by rocks and mud near a collapsed building after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains in Zhouqu county, in northwest China's Gansu province, Monday. Rescuers searched Monday for an estimated 1,300 people left missing after rubble-strewn floodwaters tore through a remote corner of northwestern China, just one of a series of flood disasters across Asia that have plunged millions into misery.

Please Invite Me ; For Fast-Breaking..Do you Mind??

For many Jakartans, the holy month of Ramadan means better scheduling of weekends and leisure time, what with the endless invitations to buka puasa bersama, or communal fast-breaking.

These events usually involve meeting up at restaurants or an acquaintance's house to break the fast.

"I've already received seven invites to different buka puasa bersama events so far," Merry Dianty, a secretary and a mother of one, tells The Jakarta Post. The invitations came pouring in from her clusters of acquaintances, ranging from those in her teen years to the ones from her married life, Merry says.

"I've had invites from primary school friends, Koran-recital club friends, old buddies from my former and present university, my extended family, and my husband's extended family," she says.

"When Ramadan approaches, I prepare the money I'll spend eating out during these events."

Nevertheless, she attends all the events with pleasure.

"I like going to the events, because they're a form of silaturrahmi *keeping in touch and maintaining good relations*, and I get to meet friends whom I hardly see for the rest of the year," Merry says.

She even organized a few of the events she attended this year.

"My husband and I arranged a get-together for his extended family," she explains. "We felt that as the youngest couple in the extended family, we should take the initiative."

Even non-Muslims also find themselves attending such events.

"I consider going to these events an invite to dine out," says Josephine Kartini, a Christian, adding she has attended one every couple of days this Ramadan. "Basically, I just like dining out, so I enjoy these get-togethers, especially if it involves my close friends."

"Some of the people who invite me don't even fast," graphic designer Hendra Tohjaya laughs.

The invites often come from acquaintances who are slightly closer than former school friends, he adds.

"When I take the train to visit my girlfriend on weekends, I often run into the same guys, who are all in long-distance relationships and are visiting their girls too," he says.

"And wouldn't you know it, we end up holding the get-togethers as well!"

Marry Me...

Twenty couples given marriage licenses


PURWOKERTO, Central Java: Twenty couples, who had earlier been married unofficially under the Islamic law (nikah siri), were given official marriage certificates during a mass wedding ceremony on Tuesday.

The couples, several of whom were over 50 years of age, were given the certificates during the event organized by Ajibarang district in Banyumas, ahead of the fasting month.

Ajibarang district head, Darwoso, said there were hundreds of couples who had been living together without official marriage certification.

“Because of limited funds, we could only provide certificates for 20 couples today,” he said.

Rare Sumatran tiger kills a teenager

Conservationists say a rare Sumatran tiger has killed a teenager in western Indonesia.

Ahmad Rafi was mauled while he and his parents were tapping rubber trees in their plantation in Rimbo Melintang, a village in Riau province.

Hutomo, the head of local conservation agency, said Tuesday the 17-year-old boy's mangled body had been recovered and that tiger had been chased away by frightened villagers.

Indonesia is home to around 250 Sumatran tigers. Their habitat is threatened by rampant deforestation. Tigers are also hunted for use of their body parts in traditional medicines, health tonics, decorations and even for fashion.

As their habitat diminishes, many of the endangered animals roam into villages or onto plantations in search of food, setting off conflicts with humans.