Population movement and transmigration
Population
movement has probably been having an effect on patterns of deforestation
in the Moluccas for as long as these islands have been inhabited by
humans. In the case of the smaller islands this would account for
their early depletion. Since 1600, however, we have clear evidence
for deforestation through relocations within the same island, inter-island
migration within the Moluccas and in-migration from without. The Moluccan-European
wars of the seventeenth century resulted (as we have seen) in the
extirpation of plantations, the wholesale depopulation of certain
areas and the movement of populations elsewhere. For example, Collins
[Collins 1980; 1984] has provided linguistic evidence for movements
at this time which resulted in the setting-up at Nuelitetu, along
the south Seram littoral, of a settlement of refugees from West Seram,
speaking a Piru Bay (Wemale) language. During the nineteenth century
Dutch administrative requirements to control fractious natives led
to the emptying of large areas of the highlands and interiors of the
main islands, in particular on Seram. This threatened forest in coastal
areas but led to reduced hunting in the highlands. Reduced hunting
increased animal density (particularly deer), with consequent severe
browsing pressure [Edwards, 1993: 10; Ellen, 1993a: 201]. Ironically,
villagers in the central highlands of Seram now register a reduction
in the availability of game animals, caused by disturbances to the
edge of the Manusela National Park [Edwards, 1993: 11].
For many centuries the Moluccas have additionally been the destination
for migrants moving east from south and southeast Sulawesi: Buginese,
and more recently, and in large numbers, Butonese. Over the last 15
years in-migration in certain areas has increased dramatically, partly
through direct government-sponsored transmigration and partly through
increased spontaneous migration made more attractive by new infrastructures
such as roads, including those created in the first place for government
transmigrants.
The Moluccas was first incorporated into the national transmigration
programme ('Transmigrasi umum/nasional') as early as 1954, but was
not an effective destination until the seventies. Between 1971 and
1980 there were 4,300 sponsored transmigrants settling in the Moluccas.
This increased to 35,100 between 1980 and 1985. Although only 2 percent
of the total provincial population, they represented 17 percent of
the population increase [Potter, 1991: 191]. The greatest expansion
took place between 1982 and 1989, with 25,953 migrants from Java and
other parts of the province settling special zones created on Seram
(Pasahari and Banggai) and Halmahera (Kao, Wasile and Ekor) [Kantor
Statistik Kabupaten Maluku Tengah, 1984: 114; 1989: 155]. Under the
Fifth Five Year Plan (1987-91) rates of transmigration have increased
further, and there are plans to resettle more. By 1992 there were
13 settlements all told, 3.1 percent of the provincial population:
in excess of 23,042 transmigrants on Seram, 18,030 on Buru, 20,857
on Halmahera and 174 on Aru, a total of 62,103 individuals [Goss,
1992: 89-90]. There has been a tendency for family size to increase
in recent years, and by 1994 transmigrants are likely to be 25 percent
of the population of Aru, 20 percent of Buru, 7 percent of Halmahera
and 8 percent of Seram [ibid, p.91]. These figures do
not, however, include spontaneous migrants who follow later, which
the World Bank estimates are often more than double the number of
official migrants [Donner, 1987: 245].
It is generally reckoned that in Indonesia as a whole, transmigration
and its knock-on effects has been more responsible than anything else
for forest destruction, and certainly more damaging than either swidden
cultivation or logging [Donner, 1987: 243; Potter, 1991: 210]. There
is no reason to think that the situation in the Moluccas is any different.
The damage is not simply that caused by initial clearance for new
settlements, but results from few of the schemes being economically
self-contained, often involving inappropriate farming models. To compensate,
settlers extract from nearby forest, and seek to extend their land
by slash-and-burn techniques, sometimes purchasing land from indigenous
peoples where government authority permits (as in the case of the
Nuaulu, see below), sometimes simply taking it. Where the Departments
of Transmigration and Forestry have recognized the impracticality
of wet rice cultivation, they have sometimes backed schemes dependent
on industrial forest crops (Hutan Tanaman Industri). At present, as
far as the Moluccas is concerned, this strategy appears only to have
been used on Buru [Goss, 1992: 93]. The difficulty, though, is that
tree crops require the clearance of larger areas of forest than for
rice. At this point the problems posed by transmigration overlap with
those already mentioned in relation to plantation cropping.
The consequences of transmigration for local peoples have been complex,
but on the whole negative. Among the benefits cited are improved markets
and services [ibid., 95]. This is probably true for
the south Seram area, where the influx of transmigrants has been accompanied
by upgrading of roads and bus services, and has resulted in the development
of local markets with new opportunities for sale of food products.
Nuaulu cash incomes have increased, as we shall see, from the sale
of land. Maneo villages also benefit from trade with transmigrants,
through the provision of schools in transmigration areas and in the
opportunities afforded to politically astute individuals. One of the
main disadvantages, however, is that clearance interferes with the
practice of indigenous patterns of subsistence. For example, between
1982 and 1985 5000 hectares of forest cleared in central Halmahera
for transmigration cut across pre-existing Tugutil zones of extraction
and sago palms [Martodirdjo, 1988: 4]. Moreover, there is generally
little recognition that the viability of indigenous sustainable swiddening
requires a constant ratio of current gardens to forest fallow, and
that therefore forest not being used by local farmers is not surplus
to requirements. The government has in places expropriated disputed
territory and not compensated owners [Goss, 1992: 94]. The potential
for conflict is considerable, and even where the indigenous population
has in practice received certain legal protections (as among the Nuaulu),
conflict with transmigrants has escalated to an alarming level.
In parts of Seram local peoples have spontaneously and voluntarily
settled in transmigration areas (e.g. Maneo). Others have been assimilated
willy-nilly as these areas have expanded to incorporate them (Seti),
in some cases turning indigenous villages into 'reservations' within
larger environmentally-depleted and immigrant-dominated zones. In
a number of places there have been attempts to incorporate local 'tribal'
peoples into transmigration schemes: on Buru [Goss, 1992: 95], Seram
[Ellen, 1993b, and below] and Halmahera. The Halmahera scheme involved
nomadic forest collectors (Tugutil) and was reportedly not a success
[Martodirdjo, 1988: 2, 22]. Incorporation of Nuaulu into the Ruatan
scheme has been a mixed success: some Nuaulu have moved into the area
permanently, some on a temporary basis; the scheme has provided good
access to traditional areas of extraction, but led to conflict amongst
Nuaulu, between Nuaulu and other indigenous peoples in the area, and
between Nuaulu and settlers. We can now turn to this case and examine
it in greater detail.