Kasepuhan: A Community living in the foggy mountains of West Java

The first trip to visit forest people with Yuyun leads me to West Java, an area not far from beautiful coastal beaches where the mist turns the mountain tops into a mysterious wonderland. Going up and down the steep slopes, we pass through a rich, lush forest, which looks much more like a real rainforest than the selectively logged one I saw in the Mawas area in Central Kalimantan.

The Kasepuhan, as many indigenous in Indonesia, have been victims of a policy of designing national park boundaries without attention for the communities living in the area. When the Gunang Halimun- Salak National Park was considerably enlarged in 2003, the traditional lands of thousands of Kasepuha were included. Parts of these lands belonged previously to a state-owned forestry company, which recognized in an agreement in 1969 the traditional rights of the Kasepuhan. Now, the park management demanded from the Kasepuhan to abandon their agroforestry lands. In a recent conflict escalation, 8 community members were arrested and sentenced to prison for logging trees they claim to have planted themselves. The community hopes to resolve the conflict with the help of a newly founded commission of the local parliament.

Land-use is strictly reglemented under customary (adat) rules within the Kasepuhan community. They distinguish forest, steep slopes with bamboo groves, agroforestry areas, rice paddies and fish ponds. Rice is cultivated only for their own consumption, while a wide-range of further agricultural produces, mainly fruit and vegetables are sold to the local markets. The forest areas is divided into protected forests (60%), where entry or removal of anything is strictly forbidden without permission of the community leader. In the closed forest (20%), community members may only harvest non-timber products. The open forest (20%) is used for all other purposes (paddy rice fields, rotational agriculture, agroforestry, housing, roads, mosques etc). Most water springs are located in the sacred forest which is also home to rare animal species. The right to log is very restricted, traditionally only allowed for parts of house or furniture construction. Non-timber material such as bamboo for the walls, palm leaves for the roof and palm trunks as supporting columns is extensively used to limit the consumption of precious trees as far as possible. If timber is needed, it is trees planted by the community, not from the virgin forest, which can be felled. Degraded land is reforested.

When we arrive at the first village, we are lucky to be invited to participate in the celebration of a major event: the chief´s baby got 40 days old. We experience how the Kasepuhan merge old customs with new influences, using traditional instruments, dances and costumes alongside with microphones, videos cameras and mobile phones. Apparently, the community has managed to strike the balance between customary and modern use of resources. Customary rules still play an important role as I learn while having to wait for half a day to get an audience with the chief in order to properly bid farewell. On the other hand, young people are welcome to leave the village to study elsewhere and bring new ideas on their frequent visits back home.