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| Economic System: Competition over Resources |
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According to many experts, the tensions resulting from the mingling of populations through transmigration and more recent migration are caused by economic tension
rather than ethnic or religious friction. The challenge of conflict prevention becomes how to reconcile the economic interests of the native population with those of
the later arrivals.
The two groups often differ in economic worldview. Some observers believe that it would not occur to the native population to focus on how groups can
work together to develop an area. For example, it is irrational to consider selling trees if your community’s livelihood has always depended on its proximity to the
forest. But sustainable development is considerably more complex than forest-loving natives opposing rapacious resource-extracting migrants. For many years,
the indigenous people have cleared forest for agriculture and boosted their incomes to pay for schooling, housing and clothing by selling forest products and planting
cash crops such as rubber, cocoa and coffee. In these agrarian transformations, some households inevitably fare better and a local class hierarchy begins to develop. As one example of these complexities, a boom in cocoa prices in Central Sulawesi drew tens of thousands of new migrants from the South to acquire cocoa land from indigenous farmers. The farmers, to their later regret, sold out, some bullied by those seeking to profit but others tempted by the lure of cash in hand.
Recommendations:
- Attempts should be made to understand further the economic basis of many of the tensions between native populations and later arrivals.
- Support should be given to local governments to resolve economic disputes through previously determined mediation mechanisms. The processes could be the same throughout Indonesia and developed by the central government.
- Local community groups composed of members of all of the local populations should meet to discuss upcoming problems with respect to natural resources and development initiatives, even before the need for conflict resolution becomes apparent.
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