Public RelationsUPNVJ - Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UPN "Veteran" Jakarta, held a group viewing event and discussion of the film "Tanah Moyangku" produced by Watchdoc Indonesia on Tuesday, December 19 2023. The theme of this documentary film is related to the agrarian sector which recently reaped many conflicts in Indonesia.
The discussion that took place at the FISIP UPNVJ Diplomacy Laboratory was very dynamic. Not only students, the lecturers were also enthusiastic in participating in the film discussion. Also present was the director of the film "Tanah Moyangku", Edy Purwanto, who told the story behind the making of the film.
The idea for this film emerged based on the findings of Dutch researchers, Ward Berenschot, and also by Ahmad Dhianulhaq, Afrizal and Otto Hospes. The results of the research are summarized in a book entitled "Vacancy of Rights: Communities Vs Palm Oil Companies in Indonesia." Apart from that, this film is also supported by the research results of the sociologist professor at Andalas University, Prof. Afrizal.
The conflict in this film depicts many events that occurred in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Indigenous peoples' land is not recognized as their land, even though they do not have official proof of land ownership, or land certificates.
“Agrarian conflicts in Indonesia have been going on for a very long time. "Even when this film was about to be released, new conflicts emerged, such as the Rempang case," explained Edy.
At that point, the documentary filmmaking team had to take the courage to sacrifice some parts of the film. “We also have to think about how long this film will last. "If it's too long or lengthy, it will certainly be uninteresting," he added.
On that occasion, the discussion forum also asked questions about the government's perspective on this film, the selection of main sources, and the challenges faced during the film production process. Communication Science Lecturer at FISIP UPNVJ, Firdaus Noor, also asked about the ideology that appears in each of the films produced by Watchdoc.
According to Edy, the Watchdoc ideology will side with many oppressed communities, especially those who do not get their rights, namely marginalized people from a humanitarian perspective. It is hoped that this film will bring real changes to the attitude of the audience.
Agrarian is one of the sectors that often triggers conflict in Indonesia. The Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) noted that from 2015 – 2022, there were at least 2701 agrarian conflicts in various regions in Indonesia.
Of that number, 1934 people were criminalized, 814 were persecuted, 78 people were shot, and 69 of them died. This agrarian conflict covers almost 6 million hectares of land and covers more than 1.7 million families.
If traced, this agrarian conflict has historical roots that go back very far to the European colonial era, especially when the Dutch Kingdom colonized Indonesia. In 1870, the Dutch government enacted the Agrarische Wet or Land Law, one of which regulates Domein Verklaring or domain/territory declarations. This means that Indonesian territory whose ownership cannot be proven becomes state property.
Since then, most of the land in Indonesia has belonged to the Dutch government. Unfortunately, after Indonesia became independent in 1945, no fundamental changes were made to land regulations, so agrarian conflicts continue to this day.