We spoke for almost two hours about the fate of the kampungs in the village he leads, including Kampung Loncek, where the PNPM Peduli program is implemented. Since Teluk Bakung was designated as a Industrial Forest concession area, followed by large scale mining and oil palm concessions, the Dayak Salako indigenous communities living in the area have been increasingly wedged between these interests.
Although their ancestors have lived in the area long before the Indonesia state was conceived, the people are being deprived not only of their right to the land that they inherited through generations, but they are also losing the values of their own indigenous culture along with its local wisdoms.
“Some of my people tried to get their lands certified, but they were denied by the land administration o ce, because the lands turned out to be within the concession area,” lamented Agip.