Digital BABA

I used to work with non-governmental organization, since I was holding my Bachelor Degree of Social Anthropology from the University of Padjadjaran, one of public universities located in my hometown, in Bandung city, Indonesia. I was enjoying my time when I got involved with several non-governmental organizations as a researcher to conduct many field researches, carry out community mapping as well as advocacy as the way to serve community at the grassroots level. I still remember, when I worked for the first non-governmental organization, namely KKI Warsi that I had involved in from 2003 to 2004, few of my original habits were already changed immediately. This NGO is actually focusing their work on lowland tropical rain forest conservation and Indigenous Peoples’ empowerment in Jambi province, Indonesia.

This is how the story begins. It was September 2003, as a part of my fieldwork and my commitment to serve community I started my first field trip to get in touch with this local people. I was walking for about 7 hours throughout the jungle to reach to the most original group of this indigenous group and need to spend time and live with them for 17 days each month in the jungle, namely Bukit Dua Belas National Park. This group is actually considered as the indigenous group of people, which is called Kubu or Orang Rimba and they live there from generation to generation since long time ago. First time, I was getting in touch with them, I felt disgusting with myself, who used to live and overwhelm with luxurious things and easily spend a lot of money every month. In fact, at that time, I was surprised to face such a real life, that there, in the jungle, a site that is not so far away from the capital city of Jakarta, there is “other” life of people with traditional way of live and try to survive of globalization.

They used to do hunting and gathering to gather their foods in their daily life, so referring to my work responsibility as well as my commitment to do my best to help them in coping with the globalization issues, I therefore, need to learn their culture, including their language and the way of life of them to build a good communication and mutual understanding each other, so that they will believe in me, although I am as an “outsider” of their community. Thus, there is no way for me unless trying to be like them by doing social learning. The first lesson I learned from them is something that I will remember in the rest of my life. They challenged me to do hunting of deer in the late of afternoon by using their traditional rifle, so called kecepe. No doubt, actually I feel scared with this honorary “invitation”, since I have no experience to walk throughout the jungle in the night. However to respect on this invitation, I finally accepted it and took this challenge as a precious experience in my lifetime.

It was at 5.30 in the afternoon when five of us left the house and went throughout the jungle. My body was shaking because it’s going to be my first “wild” journey in the dark site, namely jungle. Unfortunately, we did not find any deer at all until 11 o’clock in the evening, so we decided to get home. One of their leaders said that the failure of catching a deer at that night is because of me who went out with them. He argued that my body was bringing out the smell of “modernity” whereas perfume which was sticked in my t-shirt. One day after, I decided not to take bath for few days, so that I’ll not bring such bad smell that can be a bad luck for all of them.

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BABA Personal Statement:
My name is Erna Anjarwati and my nationality is Indonesia. Presently, I have been enrolled as a student in Dual Campus M.A in International Peace Studies, specializing in Conflict Transformation and Conflict Resolution. This program is undertaken by the University for Peace in Costa Rica in partnership with the University of Ateneo de Manila in the Philippines that covered by the Nippon Foundation scholarship program for 19 months. Prior to joining with this program, I was working with several NGOs in my own country as a researcher for four years from 2003 to 2007. In the past, my field and desk research have concentrated on Human Rights Issues, mainly focusing on the issues that affect the most vulnerable people in Indonesia by using qualitative and ethnography approaches. In several opportunities, I have also published some articles and books on those topics ranging to advocate for their rights. My application for enrollment into the BABA Retreat Program and my preference to have it in China from October 27th to November 2nd 2008 is motivated by my desire to acquire advanced knowledge and skills that will enable me cope with current Asian issues, including shared prosperity, common security, ecological balance and human security from other scholars who have been involved in NFG projects. Furthermore, this program is a great opportunity for the future leaders to contribute a lot to building a better Asia by using the dialogue forum as the way to learning and sharing experiences each other in responding such issues above. Indeed, the BABA Retreat program scheme is a timely and relevant effort that addresses this urgent need nowadays. For sure that once I got this wonderful opportunity, I will do my best to work on my peace projects to resolve the conflict in Asia.

BABA Leadership Statement:
As a Peace Researcher, I have been an actor for a long time to cope with the challenges of current issues in Asia, particularly the issue of common security and human security faced by Peace Researcher, especially in developing countries. I am talking about how to contribute a lot into conflict transformation process and decision making made by local and national government to prevent and resolve many conflicts by providing accurate recommendation supported by critical analysis gathered in the field. This is important for third world Peace Researcher in order for them to meet the challenges of many conflicts, such as ethnic conflict, religious conflict, terrorism, rebellion group movement, and other civil wars triggered by many factors in developing countries, like poverty, economic, gender inequality, environmental degradation, unequal political rights, and so forth that can lead the researcher to have better understanding about these issues holistically in term of theories and practices to resolve such conflicts as a part of globalization impact. Hence, the need for more young Asian scholars from developing countries to gather and look for such opportunities to acquire the skills, knowledge and insight in the social field could be useful to cope with many current issues in the region. Another important issue I took into consideration when choosing your program, is the multicultural environment in which it is offered. It attracts students from all over Asia. This is important for me as a Peace Researcher, as it gives me an opportunity not only to acquire knowledge, but also to acquire the much needed multicultural environment in many perspectives needed in the complex of globalized world.