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Viewing cable 09SURABAYA111, FISHERY LAW THREATENS MALUKU TRADITIONS, ECONOMY,

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09SURABAYA111 2009-11-13 09:33 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Surabaya
VZCZCXRO7008
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0111 3170933
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130933Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0485
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0495
INFO RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0508
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0189
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0221
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
UNCLAS SURABAYA 000111 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SENV EFIS PHUM SOCI ID
SUBJECT: FISHERY LAW THREATENS MALUKU TRADITIONS, ECONOMY, 
ENVIRONMENT 
 
1. SUMMARY: Jakarta recently passed a law that sets a 12-mile 
off-shore boundary outside of which the national government 
controls.  This law threatens the local traditions that have 
governed fishing practices, and sustained coastal resources, in 
the Maluku islands for centuries.  Local groups are organizing 
to fight against this law.  In particular, they plan to 
challenge the law in the Constitutional Court on the basis of 
national regulation overstepping local autonomy.  If the Court 
does not overturn the law, some feel the issue should be raised 
with the United Nations.    END SUMMARY 
 
2. Maluku province consists of more than 1,000 islands ringing 
the Banda Sea.  Society is divided into multi-ethnic villages, 
each with its own king.  While not a part of the formal 
governance structure, the king frequently wields more real power 
than local government officials.  In particular, the king has 
significant influence over how the village both exploits and 
protects its natural resources.  Traditionally, each village has 
had the long-standing right to exploit maritime resources in an 
area of the sea that extends from the island to the waters 
controlled by another village.  In this traditional view, there 
is no distinction between land and sea.  Each village looks to 
its king to control how these resources, especially the 
fisheries, are exploited.  The kings use what they term "local 
wisdom" and traditional law to govern that exploitation.    John 
Lefmanu, of the environmentally-focused NGO, The Kirani 
Foundation, contends that this "local wisdom" approach sustains 
both the local economy and the ecological integrity of the sea. 
 
3. In 2007, the national parliament passed a law which 
contradicts this tradition.  Among other things, the law 
restricts the maritime resource exploitation rights of the 
inhabitants of small islands in Indonesia to a 12-mile radius 
from shore.  The rest of the sea would become part of national 
property, to be managed by the Central Government in Jakarta. 
Kiki Zamal, director of Young Ambassadors for Peace, views this 
as a direct threat to the economic livelihood and traditional 
way of life of the Malukus.  John Lefmanu expressed concern that 
this new law would circumvent traditional informal agreements 
between villages that limit the use of ecologically damaging 
fishing equipment and avoid depleting fish stocks. 
 
4. While the law was passed in 2007, the Ministry of Fisheries 
did not issue an implementing regulation regarding Jakarta's 
management of the fisheries until June 2009.  The regulation 
spurred local organizations to consider actions they could take 
to counter the effects of the law.  Two Ambon-based NGOs, Peace 
Through Development and the Kirani Foundation, organized a 
seminar on November 5 and 6, 2009, to discuss the law and 
organize the province's response.  Over 50 people attended the 
seminar, including traditional kings, representatives from both 
local and provincial government development offices (BAPPEDA), 
university professors, and NGO activists. 
 
5. The group decided to pursue two courses of action.  First, 
they decided to create guidelines to assist villages to codify 
and formalize their traditional law and "local wisdom" with the 
goal of protecting traditional rights within the 12-mile area 
from future erosion.  They also decided to directly challenge 
the law by bringing it to the national Constitutional Court for 
judicial review, and tasked Peace Through Development to 
spearhead that effort.  They hope the Court will find the law to 
infringe on the rights of the province. 
 
6. Other observers viewed the law as an example of Jakarta's 
"heavy-handedness" in dealing with Maluku province.  A.H. 
Tulalessy, director of the Center for Environmental Studies at 
Pattimura University, compared the situation in Maluku with that 
in Aceh.  He expressed frustration that Aceh is allowed to keep 
70% of the revenue generated by its natural resources, while 
Jakarta "steals" all of Maluku's resources.  Tulalessy also said 
that, if the Constitutional Court fails to overturn the law, the 
Maluku people should take their case to the UN.  He argued that 
the law amounted to a violation of the UN Declaration on the 
Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 
 
MCCLELLAND