Indonesia’s Mandalika megaproject still trampling on Indigenous community’s rights: Report

JAKARTA — Reports of human rights violations continue to mount around a major tourism development on the Indonesian island of Lombok, two years since the United Nations first flagged problems there.

But reports of violations continue to flood in, prompting U.N. rights experts to raise their concerns with the Indonesian government and other stakeholders for the third time in February 2023.

The $3 billion project is located in the coastal Mandalika region of southern Lombok, an island next to the better-known tourism hotspot of Bali. It aims to turn Mandalika into what the government calls a “New Bali,” with the construction of parks, resorts, hotels, and a racetrack called the Mandalika International Circuit.

In a letter dated Feb. 14 this year, U.N. human rights experts highlighted a number of alleged violations that had persisted despite repeated calls for the government, the project’s funders, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and its developer, the state-owned Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), to address the issues.

“[T]he ITDC has ignored our previous recommendations to provide remedies for those affected by the sporting event,” the U.N. experts wrote in the letter.

U.N. experts had previously issued two similar letters on the Mandalika project, once in 2021 and another in 2022. That makes the February letter the third communication on the project — a record for a megaproject funded by a multilateral development bank, according to several Indonesian and international NGOs grouped under the Coalition for Monitoring Indonesia’s Infrastructure Development.

This level of U.N. engagement is “unprecedented,” said Wawa Wang, director of the NGO Just Finance International. Yet despite this, she said, “the AIIB and ITDC have yet to take decisive action to release key project documentation, address the root causes of human rights violations, and provide remedy and redress to affected Indigenous communities.”

Among the alleged violations highlighted by the U.N. experts is “a high degree of homelessness” due to involuntary resettlement of Indigenous Sasak residents in the project area.

The AIIB and ITDC have said the affected communities would be permanently resettled within 12 months of relocation. But there are around 100 people from an estimated 36 households still living in self-built temporary shelters alongside a construction site near the racetrack, according to the U.N. experts.

These villagers, who opposed the terms of the involuntary resettlements, also had their movements heavily restricted during the high-profile MotoGP and World Superbike races there, the experts said.

Movement restrictions and intimidation

During the MotoGP event at the Mandalika racetrack in March 2022, the residents were forced to wear wristbands that would allow them to travel through security checkpoints. But some households didn’t receive wristbands, which were distributed in limited quantities. And the wristbands were only valid for two checkpoint entries.

“The increased presence of security forces and restrictions during the MotoGP has had adverse effects on the lives of the Sasak, with some parents keeping their children home from school out of fear that they would lose the bracelets and not be allowed to return to their homes,” the U.N. experts wrote in their letter.

The MotoGP race also saw the arrest of three Sasak community members on charges of criticizing the Indonesian government on social media for restricting their movement. The arrested protesters were reportedly forced to pay 2 million rupiah (about $300) for their release; Indonesia doesn’t have a bail system, meaning such a payment would be illegal. They were also told by police that they would be arrested again if they posted any more comments critical of the government or the security forces.

Then, in November 2022, the communities once again had their movements curtailed for the World Superbike race. This time, they received stickers from local officials to pass through checkpoints. But as with the MotoGP race, the number of stickers were limited.

When the Sasak community members staged a protest ahead of the race by erecting banners on their property denouncing the project’s negative impacts, they were visited by Indonesian security forces, who took down the banners, according to the U.N. rights experts.

The most recent race hosted at the Mandalika circuit was the 2023 World Superbike event in March. In the lead-up to that race, local community members reported a heavier security presence in the area, with police deploying more than 2,300 officers for the event. These included 500 members of the tactical SWAT forces, who were there to monitor the situation “for signs of terror, riots and natural disasters,” according to police.

The deployment also included snipers, whom the police claimed were necessary “to help secure the situation for the World Superbike event.” Police also carried out anti-protest drills at the racetrack, including the use of full riot gear and water cannons.

A community member said they felt threatened by the presence of the police.

“An intelligence officer visited me and told me that I should not participate in any peaceful protests for my land rights during the World Superbike Race,” the community member said as quoted in the report by the Coalition for Monitoring Indonesia’s Infrastructure Development.

The U.N. experts said they didn’t want to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations. But they raised concerns over increased acts of intimidation against the Sasak communities and human rights defenders.

These allegations highlighted in the report by the NGO coalition are based on interviews with 106 Indigenous community members affected by the Mandalika project. Some 70% of respondents said they’d felt coerced during the land acquisition process, while 84% said they’d been impacted by the excessive deployment of security forces during events like the MotoGP and World Superbike races.

“During the race, our house was swarmed by the police and the military personnel,” a female respondent said as quoted in the report. “We were so busy serving coffee and boiling cassava for them to eat. They never paid us. They only told us to do this and that. I actually wanted to refuse because the prices of sugar and coffee are high. But we didn’t dare to refuse because they brought firearms. I’m afraid of getting shot by them.”

Lack of FPIC

Another concern raised by the U.N. is the apparent failure by the project developer to obtain the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the affected communities, not only before the project began, but also after construction work started.

The U.N. letter pointed out that while some consultations had taken place with the Indigenous communities, there are still concerns that the affected community members haven’t been informed or consulted in a meaningful manner about the project.

For instance, Djaka Budi Utama, the deputy minister for political, legal and security affairs, reportedly held a meeting with four village leaders. However, those individuals had not been selected by the Indigenous communities, the U.N. experts said.

“Although Ministry officials said they would address the Sasak’s concerns, they did not take the time to do so in-depth or listen to their perspectives,” the U.N. rights experts said.

According to the coalition’s report, 100 of the 106 Sasak individuals interviewed said they hadn’t been involved in the consultation process held by the ITDC and the AIIB, while 104 out of 106 said they hadn’t been asked for their approval of the project.

All but one said they weren’t satisfied with the amount of information they’d received regarding the project, as well as with the way the information was delivered to them.

“The ITDC shouldn’t use statement from one person as a representative of all people,” one of the respondents said as quoted by the report. “The ITDC should ask for the opinion and approval of greater people, not only those whose lands are affected by the project, but also those who live surrounding the area. Because we all live near the Mandalika circuit, we need to know about the project’s plan, its impact on us and what potential there is to develop our economy.”

Given the chance to speak their minds, 87 out of the 106 said they would say no to the Mandalika project. They largely agreed that the project had done them more harm than good, with 71% saying their lives had gotten worse since the start of the project.

“I perceive the Mandalika project to not benefit the people. Instead, this project harms us,” one of the respondents said. “The ITDC and the government only think about their own profit.”

The coalition’s researchers found that the Mandalika project had also affected the region’s ecosystem, and thus harmed the Sasak people’s livelihoods, despite government claims that the project would bolster the local economy and provide job opportunities.

One of the researchers, Sayyidatihayaa Afra, said the income of seaweed farmers in the project area had plunge from 1.5 million rupiah per month to just 300,000 ($100 to $20). She also encountered villagers who had reportedly eaten nothing by cassava for more than a week, without any protein.

“[The project] had caused poverty in Mandalika to increase drastically,” said Afra, who is also a researcher with the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL). “Actually, the Mandalika project requires [the project developer] to provide jobs to local youths. But these are temporary jobs and they’re very selective.”

Harry Sandy Ame, a representative of the Sasak Indigenous community, said the government had promised to create up to 78,000 new jobs for locals and to provide job training for community members. The government had also guaranteed that at least one person in each resettled household would get a job with monthly salary of 2.5 million rupiah ($170), he added.

“But the fact is that there’s no job until now. Meanwhile, there’s not many jobs in the tourism industry either,” Harry said.

The few jobs that are available don’t pay much, he added. For instance, a male janitor at the Mandalika circuit gets up to 50,000 rupiah ($3.40) per day, while a woman doing the same job receives 28,000 rupiah ($1.90) daily, Harry said.

The U.N. experts also said the government had failed to address the language barrier in the consultation process.

“The meetings were not translated into Sasak, which made it difficult to participate in the discussions,” the experts said.

The NGO coalition said holding a dialogue with the Sasak community members in their Indigenous language is important. When they sought to interview the affected Sasak people for their report, the researchers found out that nine in 10 community members couldn’t speak Indonesian well. As a result, they had difficulty understanding crucial information about the impacts of the Mandalika project and voicing their opinions and concerns.

The researchers had to use interpreters to facilitate their interviews.

Old response to new complaints

The Indonesian government has responded to each of the U.N. rights experts’ three letters.

In its response to the second letter last year, the government said it had conducted a verification and settlement process to resolve land disputes. It said this was done in a transparent manner and under the voluntary and genuine approval of the affected communities.

“The government and the ITDC would like to reiterate that the development of the Mandalika Special Economic Zone [SEZ] had never resorted to any land grabbing nor forced eviction as alleged by the Special Procedures,” the government said in its response letter dated May 4, 2022.

The government also said the local communities affected by the project have been properly compensated and that the land settlement process has been resolved. In particular, the government said the Sasak Indigenous communities who lived in the project area are fully supportive of the development.

“[T]he Sasak tribe customary council has affirmed that the process of development and land acquisition related to the Mandalika SEZ is carried out humanely and persuasively, with respect to the law,” the government said.

In its response to the U.N. experts’ third letter, however, the government simply told the U.N. to refer to its previous responses, saying these were comprehensive enough and there wasn’t much new in the concerns raised in the third letter.

“Although we appreciate the efforts of the mandate holders to follow up on the reports they received, we are disappointed that the issues of concern raised in this letter have much in common with previous communications,” the government said in its third response dated April 11, 2023.

It added that the U.N. rights experts kept repeating similar questions with minimal consideration of the answers previously given by the government in 2021 and 2022.

“In this regard, we wish that the work of the mandate holders continues to uphold the principle of objective and impartiality to maintain a constructive dialogue with the Member States,” the government said.

Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, a government-funded body, said it had investigated the Mandalika project in 2020 and found indications of human rights violations. Since then, however, there’s been a lack of government follow-up, said Komnas HAM commissioner Prabianto Mukti Wibowo.

“Komnas HAM had sent letters to the president [regarding its recommendations],” he said.

Prabianto said the commission had received reports regarding land conflicts from affected communities and was now monitoring the situation and prepared to mediate a resolution between the communities and the project developer.

Funder under fire

In light of the ongoing alleged human rights violations, the coalition of NGOs has called out the Beijing-based AIIB for its role in financing a project plagued with serious complaints.

Harry said the AIIB and the ITDC had withheld key project documentation, allowing the latter to claim that 92.7% of the land in the Mandalika project area was “clean and clear” of any conflicting land claims, without providing any evidence. This lack of transparency is the root cause of the intimidation, impoverishment and disenfranchisement of communities in Mandalika, he said.

“Without transparency, none of the land conflicts in Mandalika can be adequately resolved,” Harry said. “The AIIB must immediately release its own audit of the ITDC’s land survey.”

The coalition also called on the AIIB to suspend its funding of the project and launch an independent investigation.

“It is crucial for the AIIB and ITDC to take responsibility for these instances of intimidation and retaliation of project-affected communities,” said coalition coordinator Muhammad al-Amin.

Banner image: A racetrack in Mandalika, Lombok, that hosted the first MotoGP series bike race in Indonesia. The race track is a part of a mega infrastructure tourism development project aims to turn Mandalika into what the government calls a “New Bali” with the construction of parks, resorts and hotels. Image courtesy of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. 

FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.