Obstacle in Natural Resources Management in Indonesia

The quantity of natural resources in Indonesia is abundant. With these resources, Indonesia could have received many profitable aspects such as social development, education, health and social security. However, the results are far beyond Indonesians expected. Throughout hundreds of national company, we are not able to improve social welfare yet.

Mining always becomes conflict in Indonesia (image is credited http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu)

The government of Indonesia currently operates hundreds of national companies. They are called as Badan Usaha Milik Negara, or literally translating, as National Enterprises. These companies work in several fields such as transportation, oil and gas, electricity, mining, telecommunication, industries, agricultural and farming, and forestry including tourism. Based on the website, there are 119 of national companies (Kementrian BUMN, 2017).

However, those 119 of national companies are owned by central government. The local government also has prerogative right to establish local companies in addition to improve local social welfare. For instance, Bank Sumut, Bank BJB, Bank DKI, Bank Aceh are the examples of local companies established by the government of provinces in Indonesia. But, again not all local and central –government companies are able to improve the quality of life in Indonesia.

What challenges occurred in managing the natural resources in Indonesia

According to writer’s opinion, one of the main challenges happened to this issue is unprofessionalism occurred during the managerial of natural resources. The organization of BUMNs were established to manage the resources in Indonesia. For example, the PT ANTAM (Aneka Tambang) which has been operating in managing several mining sites, owned by the government, was established to manage the minerals such as gold. Nonetheless, the profits earned by the company are utilized for expenditure of the government.

According to paper authorized by (Ullah, Febriamansyah, & Yonariza, 2017), one of the most problem in Sumatera Island, which is an island consisting seven provinces in Indonesia, is the forest management. There are four natural issues in Sumatera island itself, they are:

1. Deforestation in Sumatera. Despite of in Sumatera, major deforestation happened in Kalimantan island, which was caused by expansion of crude palm oil plantations and mining
2. Over-depending of Land resources. Many of Indonesian surviving for the life being depends on the natural resources such as food, utilization of land for farming and agriculture
3. Water availability. The contamination of water whether from fresh water or the river was resulted by the uncontrollable activities of the society
4. Unaware reaction of biodiversity and protected areas. For local people, biodiversity which is comprised in national protected forest is common natural resources. As long as they could get the profitable from the forest without concerning of biodiversity, they will do everything to get wealth from it

Those four aspects indicate two important things about the society. Firstly, the society does not even consider the environmental impact because they need nature for their life. And the second aspect is about the educational and preventive actions provided by the government.

Based on study conducted by (Harahap, Silveira, & Khatiwada, 2017), found that the government’s objectives for several sectoral demands including biofuel, agricultural, climate and forest are the reasons to manage the natural resources.

Solution in managing and organizing natural resources in Indonesia

Indonesia’s national constitution of 1945 section XIV about National Economy and Social Welfare article 33 point two and three clearly stated that “production sectors that are vital to the state and that affect the livelihood of a considerable part of the population are to be controlled by the state” and it followed by “the land and the waters as well as natural riches therein are to be controlled by the state to be exploited to the greatest benefit of the people”. This constitution protects the natural resources mentioned above are to be managed and organized by the state.

To prevent dependency of society to the natural resources, the government must actively participate by developing effective methods to perform sustainable environment. By creating the community-based natural resource management could be effective. For example, the tradition of lubuk larangan which is conducted by local people in Tapanuli Selatan invites them to prevent uncontrollable fishing. This tradition somehow produces greater impact in fishing and water sustainability in the society. However, the demands of fish will be increasing in certain times but it can be solved by the aids provided by the government throughout seed of fish.

The development of facilities and infrastructures related to the challenges can be an effective solution. Local people in Indonesia use firewood to do cooking and utilize water from the river for bathing and washing. The government must provide energy and water for this issue so the natural resources can be prevented from contamination.

References
[1] Harahap, F., Silveira, S., & Khatiwada, D. (2017). Land allocation to meet sectoral goals in Indonesia - An analysis of policy coherence. Land Use Policy, 451-465.
[2] Kementrian BUMN. (2017, July 4). http://bumn.go.id/halaman/situs/. Retrieved July 4, 2017
[3] Ullah, R., Febriamansyah, R., & Yonariza. (2017). Challenges of Managing Natural Resources in West Sumatera Indonesia. Redefining Diversity and Dynamics of Natural Resources Management in Asia, 3-10.