The Changing  Village Perspective on the River and Forest

Living in the rural areas is not a choice for some but it rather than a destiny. There are not many economic opportunities as well as education facilities. It is obviously a rimland, where, people are rarely to look at.

Whoever born at such areas required to expect a miracle to change their lives. Since survival is one of their strategy to adapt and perpetuating stay alive. Nature is their resources in fulfilling their needs. Its sometime forms as food supply and simply a land to grow them.

When I was working for a forest company back dated in the 1996.  A sub district called Siak Sri Indrapura was a small and remote areas in Bengkalis District, in Riau Province. It was a notably peat swamp forest areas with abundant of trees stand ranging along Siak River.

There was not human being living down deep into the forest, since it was predominated by spongy peat soil. It was barely hard to walk through the forest paths especially during the rainy season. It was completely flooded. No one dare to open the land and setting up a house inside the forest just to claim the land.

The Malays people lives along the Siak river banks, and set up a village. Living as a fisherman, they very much relied to the river resources to support almost all their livelihood. Fish, prawn to either eat or sell, water and transportation. Thus, land is just to set up houses while most of their lives has been devoted into the rivers resources.

This condition was not last for long, the growing of population in the other areas had required the needs of housing. It was meant that timber as the raw material are heavily demanded. It was not for domestic need but also abroad demands for timber products.

Forest timber exploitation was began, and it seems abroad timber market was more lucrative compare to domestic one.  Plywood was one of the timber product that heavily demanded in international market. Forest timber was a new commodity that has attracted many investors to extract the resources from the forest.

There were many migrants grabbed the opportunity to work for forestry industry, and it was also stimulated economic enthusiasm. The expenses to operate medium and large business operation has created a vast inflow of capital as well as boosting timber trading.

The money circulation was confined within company operations areas where it lead the villages citizen to be left in their inherit livelihood.  Fish net and stick were their main tools in meeting their daily needs. Although economic on the other side of where they earn to feed the mouth of their family member still beyond of their hands. Since such huge investment to extract large areas of forest would require a massive effort which they never think off.

Although the changing of economic current has a little bit changing their perspective of the natural resource capital. With road being developed, it intertwined among villages that spread along the river banks and there a switch of transportation lane into land connecting road. It has changed the people perception upon natural resources in their front yard.

 (Dani Rahadian Hidayat)