Sejarah Jambi Independent

PERTAMA KALI beredar pada 26 April 1986, penerbitan koran ini dirintis oleh H. Syamsul Watir, Hj. Miarny S. Watir, Hj. Sri Nurbani Retno Watir, Sh. Sakti Alam Watir, dan Agus Dahlan dengan bekal SIUPP No. 169/SK/Menpen/SIUPP/A.

Pada awalnya suratkabar ini bernama Independent saja. Sebagai koran lokal yang baru terbit, Independent dicetak secara manual, menggunakan mesin stensil. Waktu terbitnya pun tidak menentu, kadang sekali seminggu, kadang sekali sebulan.

Empat tahun kemudian, perusahaan keluarga ini berupaya melebarkan sayap dengan melakukan kerja sama dengan PT. Kamener Jaya Ltd., yang bergerak di bidang percetakan. Independent berpindah kantor ke Jalan Kapten Pattimura KM 8 No. 35 Kecamatan Kotabaru, Kota Jambi setelah sebelumnya menempati kantor di Jalan Palapa (Sekarang KH. Samanhudi) Perumahan Wartawan No. 37 RT 02 Kelurahan Pasir Putih Kecamatan Jambi Selatan, Kota Jambi.

Setelah kerja sama itu barulah Independent bisa terbit setiap hari secara kontinu. Independent juga pernah bekerja sama dengan PT Riau Pos Mandiri selama satu tahun, sejak 1993, dan kantornya pindah ke Jalan Slamet Riyadi, Kota Jambi. Namun, satu tahun setelahnya, tahun 1994 hingga 1995, Independent hilang dari peredaran.

Independent kembali muncul setelah bergabung dengan Jawa Pos News Network (JPNN) pada 1 Juni 1995. Berkantor kembali di Jalan Pattimura No. 8, Independent terbit rutin setiap hari. Pada tahun 1996 nama “Independent” pun berganti menjadi “Jambi Independent”. Penambahan nama “Jambi” untuk menunjukkan lokalitasnya sekaligus menghilangkan kesan sebagai majalah luar negeri, karena nama “independent” memberi kesan kebarat-baratan. Pada tahun 2004 Jambi Independent pindah kantor lagi ke Jalan Jenderal Sudirman No. 100 Thehok Jambi.

Di pengujung tahun 2005 Jambi Independent memiliki anak perusahaan yakni Radar Sarko, yang berkantor di Kabupaten Merangin. Radar Sarko hadir untuk memenuhi kebutuhan pembaca, khususnya di Kabupaten Merangin, Sarolangun, dan Kerinci. Sukses mengelola Radar Sarko, setahun kemudian menyusul Radar Bute yang berkantor di Kabupaten Bungo. Radar Bute hadir di Kabupaten Bungo dan Kabupaten Tebo, dengan fokus berita yang lebih lokal.

Dalam perjalanannya Jambi Independent mengalami beberapa kali pergantian pemimpin redaksi. Setelah Agus Dahlan meninggal dunia, jabatannya dipegang sementara H. Suparno Wonokromo, lalu Sakti Alam Watir, dan Drs. Ali Fauzi.

Jambi Independent mencoba hadir dengan beragam rubrikasi. Dari anak-anak, dewasa, orangtua, dan dari pelbagai profesi ditarik dengan aneka warna rubrik, dengan jumlah halaman sebanyak 40 halaman setiap harinya, termasuk Minggu. Kecuali hari Minggu, Jambi Independent secara rutin menyajikan suplemen olahraga GOOL setebal 16 halaman. Suplemen ini baru terbit pada 2007. Sedangkan khusus pada hari Minggu, Jambi Independent menyajikan suplemen "Bianglala" yang diperuntukkan bagi pembaca remaja.

Berita nasional dan berita terhangat di Provinsi Jambi ditempatkan di halaman utama. Rubrik “Politika” berisi berita seputar politik di Provinsi Jambi, “Metro Jambi” tentang berita kota dan gaya hidup di Kota Jambi, “Target” tempatnya berita kriminal, “Publik Interaktif” menampung keluh kesah pembaca atau instansi yang bersangkutan, “Sehat dan Bugar” merangkum berita kesehatan, “Inforial Bisnis” informasi pelbagai produk, “Metro Bisnis” mencakup berita tentang fenomena bisnis, “Society” adalah etalase khusus berita foto, “KomunitaS Jambi” seputar berita etnis Tionghoa, sedangkan “Jambi Wilayah Timur” dan “Jambi Wilayah Barat” adalah ruang berita daerah.

Saat pertama kali terbit, oplah Jambi Independent sekitar 1500 hingga 2000 eksemplar. Kemudian, oplahnya mencapai 55.000 dengan pangsa pasar terbesar di Kota Jambi. Beberapa tahun lalu, saat Presiden Gus Dur menjadi pemimpin negara, oplah Jambi Independent mencapai 75.000-an.

Pelbagai kebijakan Gus Dur yang nyeleneh ternyata menjadi magnet tersendiri bagi masyarakat Jambi. Hadirnya pesaing, Jambi Ekspres, diakui tidak berpengaruh terhadap jumlah oplah Jambi Independent. Sebagai anak JPNN, keduanya terus beriring dalam melayani kebutuhan informasi masyarakat Jambi. (Tim EPI/KG. Sumber: Rhoma Dwi Aria Yuliantri/Indonesia Buku/Jurnas)

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Diambil utuh dari Ensiklopedi Pers Indonesia (EPI) yang tersedia di website Persatuan Wartawan Indonesia (PWI) Pusat.

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Abdurrahman Siddiq Banjari

(`Abd al-raḤmān Ṣiddīq b. MuḤammad `Afīf b. MaḤmūd b. Ḥ. Jamāl al-Dīn Albanjarī)
[Indonesia; 1857(?) - 1939]

A GREAT-grandson of Muḥammad Arshad al-Banjarī (in the female line), who settled in Sapat, Inderagiri Hilir (Riau), and who wrote several works in Malay, most of them commenting on or elaborating upon Arshad's work.

We know little about Abdurrahman Siddiq's early life. According to oral tradition, he was born in Dalam Pagar, the village near Martapura in Southeast Borneo that grew around Arshad's mosque and shrine, and that he received his first education there. In his later works, he gives his father's name as Muḥammad `Afīf and his grandfather's as Maḥm?d al-Banjarī. Neither appear to have been prominent as `ulamā; we do not find them mentioned in other sources.

It is alleged that at the age of twenty-five, Abdurrahman Siddiq set out for the Holy Land, by way of West Sumatra, where he is believed to have studied several years first (Ensiklopedi Islam: 26). He then lived and studied in Mecca and Medina for several years (five years, according to some, nine according to others). Among his teachers there were Sayyid Bakrī (Abū Bakr Shaṭṭā’ al-Dimyāṭī), Muḥammad Sa`īd Bā-Baṣīl and Nawawī Banten. During the last year of his stay he allegedly taught in the Masjid al-Ḥarām himself.

Upon his return to the Archipelago, Abdurrahman Siddiq at first settled in Bangka. After some fifteen years on this island, he moved to Sapat in Inderagiri Hilir, East Sumatra (around 1904, or according to others in 1912). He established the first madrasah in this district, in the village of Parit Hidayat. Here he also wrote various works in Malay, some of which were printed at the Al Ahmadiah Press in Singapura (the successor of the press of the same name on Pulau Penyengat, established by the ruling family of Johor-Riau). Several of his other works only survived in manuscript and saw their first printings in Banjarmasin in the 1980s. In 1919, at the behest of Sultan Mahmud Shah (the Raja Muda), Abdurrahman Siddiq was appointed as the muftī of the Malay kingdom of Indragiri. He occupied this office until his death in 1939.

His major works are:

- Shajara Arshadiyya, dealing with his famous great-grandfather (extensively used by Abdullah 1990). It was printed in Singapore in 1921, together with another work by Abdurrahman Siddiq, Risāla takmila qawl al-mukhtaṣar.

- Risāla takmila qawl al-mukhtaṣar. This is a commentary on Muhammad Arshad's Risāla qawl almukhtaṣar, which treats the signs of the imminent coming of the Mahdī and the Day of Resurrection.

- Risāla `amal ma`rifa (completed in Inderagiri in 1332/1914, published by Hasanu in Banjarmasin in 1982). A simple compendium of tasawwuf, expounding a moderate version of waḥdat al-wujud doctrine, with appropriate quotations from Ibn al-`Arabī, Ab? Bakr al-`Aydarvs, Abu'l-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī, Mu-ṭafā al-Bakrī and Muḥammad b. `Abd al-Karīm al-Sammān. The latter allegedly was one of Arshad's teachers, and it is possible that this little book draws on a family tradition and in fact contains (as is claimed by some Banjarese) Arshad's mystical teachings, which he never cared to write down himself.

- Asrār al-ṣalāh (completed in Inderagiri in 1334/1915, published in Banjarmasin in 1982). A mystically coloured treatise on prayer, the proper attitude in praying, and on the benefits thereof. In the printed edition this is followed by a catechism for children.

- `Aqā’id al-īmān (completed in Inderagiri in 1338/1919, published in Banjarmasin in 1405/1984-5). On doctrine, concentrating on the twenty attributes of God and their theological implications. It appears to be largely based on Sanusi's well-known works on orthodox doctrine.

Abdullah (1990:84) and the Ensiklopedi Islam (p. 27) list several other titles but give little or no information as to their contents. 

Bibliography: UU. Hamidy, Peranan suku Banjar dalam kehidupan sosial budaya di Kabupaten Inderagiri Hilir (Pekanbaru: Lembaga Penelitian Universitas Riau, 1981); Hj.W. Mohd. Shaghir Abdullah, Syeikh Muhammad Arsyad Al Banjari pengarang Sabilal Muhtadin (Kuala Lumpur: Khazanah Fathaniyah, 1990), pp. 45-47, 84; Anon., "Abdurrahman Siddik", Ensiklopedi Islam (Jakarta: Departemen Agama R.I., 1987), vol. 1, pp. 26-28.[]

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Martin van Bruinessen, "Abdurrahman Siddiq Banjari", Marc Gaborieau, Nicole Grandin, Pierre Labrousse & Alexandre Popovic (eds), Dictionnaire biographique des savants et grandes figures du monde musulman périphérique, du XIXe siècle à nos jours, (Paris: CNRS-EHESS, 1998 [Fasc. 2]), hlm. 11.

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Srivijaya (Sriwijaya): Overseeing Asian Maritime Trade

AS EARLY as the second or third century C.E., coastal polities on the southeastern shores of Sumatra had taken advantage of their position at the crossroads of maritime routes leading to China, India, and the Middle East (West Asia), and to the spice-rich islands of Eastern Indonesia. Changing circumstances in the history of the ancient world during the sixth and seventh centuries C.E.brought about a steady increase of Asian maritime trade. The reunification of China under the Sui (590–618 C.E.) and T’ang (618–907 C.E.) dynasties, and the demise of Persian long-distance trade, exerted a great impact on the burgeoning coastal polities of western Southeast Asia. A huge Chinese market opened with empty niches for Southeast Asian traders and their goods. Southeast Asian shippers, heirs to a mature technical tradition, were in a position to capitalize on centuries-old skills in constructing and sailing large trading vessels. Local resins and aromatics could now replace Indian Ocean commodities, long in demand in China. Camphor, oleoresins, and benzoin from Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula soon became standard trade commodities imported from the region, alongside spices, precious woods, gold, and tin.

A number of small polities in West Java and Sumatra first took advantage of these intense commercial activities in dispersed order. After 670 C.E., however, they coalesced into one single state, which the Chinese identified as Shilifoshih. Chinese records soon described this polity as one of the major trading operators of the southern seas. In 1918 epigraphist George Coedès took the brilliant step of linking these Chinese sources, together with later Indian and Arabic texts, to a group of stone inscriptions written in Old Malay. They told about the foundation times of a polity named Srivijaya, for which Shilifoshih was a regular Chinese transcription. All these crucial inscriptions were carved between 683 and 686, and were found over the years in and around Palembang, in present-day South Sumatra province. Coedès concluded that they marked the birth place and the first political center of the state of Srivijaya, which should therefore have been located at Palembang, on the banks of the large Musi River and its tributaries.This is also where a few Buddhist and Hindu statues had been found over the years. All this evidence indicated that Srivijaya had been the first large-scale state—of world economic stature—to have prospered in insular Southeast Asia. The wealth and prestige of its ruler, the regional eminence of its capital and harbor-city, and its role as a center for the diffusion of Buddhism were acknowledged by the other world economies of the times, from the Arabs at Baghdad to the T’ang and Song (Sung) (960–1279 C.E.) Chinese.

This prosperous polity thrived from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries and extended its sphere of influence to much of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and probably also to West Java and the western part of Borneo. It brought together into a still poorly understood entity a group of formerly autonomous harbor-based trading polities.

For half a century, however, the terrain at Palembang stubbornly refused to provide enough solid archaeological evidence to confirm that this site had indeed played such a major role in Asian history. Over the years, other sites, mainly on the isthmus of the Malay Peninsula, yielded enough archaeological vestiges, in the form of trade goods, inscriptions, monuments, and statuary, to lay claim to the status of capital of Srivijaya.This situation nurtured vigorous scholarly debate, often fanned by nationalism. It was only in the late 1980s, after years of intensive surveys, that archaeologists started unearthing in South Sumatra substantial evidence of economic and religious activity dating to the whole period of Srivijaya’s prominence, thus tilting the balance back to South Sumatra and confirming Coedès’s earlier hypotheses.The sites within and in the immediate vicinity of the modern city of Palembang have by now yielded pre-fourteenth-century material evidence for settlement, manufacturing, commercial, religious, and political hubs of activity at a level that can only be reconciled with a focally situated large settlement—in other words, a settlement with the political and economic center of the early Malay polity.The settlement pattern revealed so far in archaeological sites at Palembang confirms the evidence provided by contemporary foreign sources, Arabic or Chinese. A riverine urban pattern is by now clearly discernible: multiple hubs of specialized activities have been found scattered along some 12 kilometers on the northern bank of the Musi River and its smaller tributaries. Religious sites tend to have been located on higher, dry land. Judging from the quantity of finds on some of the excavated sites, population density must have been high in some places. Many of these finds clearly indicate active, long-distance trade, and the role of merchants and shipmasters is underscored in local inscriptions. Although no ruler’s residence has been located so far, the Sebokingking inscription in East Palembang clearly must have found itself at the hub or close to such a political center, at least at foundation time in the 670s and 680s.

Recent archaeological studies have not equally well documented all phases of the history of Srivijaya. Identification of confirmed archaeological sites dating back to foundation times (from the late seventh to the mid-eighth centuries) remains scarce. However, the spatial distribution in South Sumatra of contextless chance finds of seventh- to eighth-century inscriptions and statues, as well as the discovery of remains of Southeast Asian–built trading ships dating to the fifth to eighth centuries, does reveal a clear pattern, ancestral to the much better documented following phase. The late eighth and ninth centuries, in Sumatra as in most of Southeast Asia, remain very much shrouded in mystery.The last embassy sent to China by Shilifoshih/Srivijaya dates from 742 C.E.The name Srivijaya appears again in the late eighth century on an isolated inscription from southern Thailand, where it is associated with the foundation of two Buddhist sanctuaries and, for the first time, with the name of the Sailendra dynasty.

A Sailendra prince named Balaputradeva, defeated in Java by a rival of the Sanjaya dynasty in the 830s, appears to have emerged a few years later as a ruler of Srivijaya. These events, known from epigraphy, are exactly contemporary to a chronological phase brought to light in most archaeological sites in Palembang, as well as in the other coastal sites said to be part of Srivijaya in southern Thailand and Malaysia (Kedah). This phase is marked by the first massive appearance in Southeast Asian sites of Chinese ceramic wares in industrial quantities, and it bears testimony, in perfect synchronization all over western Southeast Asia, to an outstanding increase in maritime traffic. During this second phase of its history (ninth to tenth centuries), Srivijaya reached the pinnacle of its prosperity. Contemporary sources always mention the city-state’s king among the powerful rulers that thrived upon the wealthiest of maritime trade routes.The Chinese court again received numerous embassies (official records now use the term Sanfoqi to designate this born-again state of Srivijaya). Recent archaeological research has also brought to light along the valleys of the Musi River basin, upstream from Palembang, a number of sanctuaries, both Buddhist and Hindu, including a large complex of Hindu temples at Bumiayu. Temples were also built on behalf of the rulers of Srivijaya, in both China and India, as if to mark the limits of their sphere of commercial enterprise.

This flourishing state of affairs, however, appears to have attracted the interest of rising neighboring powers. Toward the end of the eleventh century, there were Chinese economic competition at sea and southern Indian (Cola) economic and military inroads into the Srivijayan scene. Furthermore, an antagonistic relationship with Java appears to have forced a shift of the center of political dominance from Palembang to the neighboring river basin of the Batang Hari in the Jambi province of Sumatra. It remained for a while an economically vibrant polity, still known to outsiders as Srivijaya, and strong enough to build the vast temple complex of Muara Jambi. However, its economic power appears to have quickly deteriorated under the blows received from both east and west. Consequently, so did its political ascendancy and its ability to control the original broad network of city-states. For reasons not yet fully understood, the ancient Malay center of political power that had occupied a coastal position for centuries now began to move inland to the Minangkabau highlands, heralding the final demise of Srivijaya.

Because of the paucity of written sources and the still limited amount of intensive and systematic archaeological research, the very nature of the economic and political network that prompted foreign powers and traders to perceive Srivijaya as a single entity is far from fully understood. Recent interpretations, however, have clarified a number of moot points.

Early historical interpretations based on inadequate comprehension of the sources available and on the misleading worldview of colonial times pronounced that Srivijaya encompassed a vast “kingdom,” or even an “empire,” ruled from Palembang. Rereading of written sources after assessment of data produced by recent excavations in South Sumatra and on the Malay Peninsula, in both Malaysia and Thailand, now allows a scaled-down image to be reconstructed. At the local level, if the data gathered in Palembang inscriptions are valid for the other Srivijaya polities, it appears that politically weighty, but spatially limited, symbolic centers were built around the datus—that is, the ruler’s palace and its fenced compound (the kadatuan). Scholars now understand the term wanua in the same inscriptions (also from the Malay linguistic stock) as referring only to the urban environment around the kadatuan,which included religious buildings and parks (both alluded to in the inscriptions), markets, and the semirural or riparian villages. As an outer circle, the inscriptions refer to a group of mandalas,under their respective datu, described as powerful local magnates ruling over their own wanua, but uneasily recognizing the authority of a primus inter pares, the ruler of Srivijaya. These outlying mandalas formed the outer reaches of the polity of Srivijaya. The overarching pattern that now emerges is that of a network of largely autonomous city-states. The true nature of the hierarchical relationship imposed on those peripheral polities that were drawn into the orbit of the South Sumatra–centered Malay polity remains, however, a matter of debate.

It has also been established by now that Srivijaya was composed of more than just a group of harbor-cities with entrepôt functions, passively exacting taxes over compulsory maritime routes. For one, progress in the field of maritime archaeology and history has confirmed that Malay world shippers and merchants played an active role in the Asian commercial scene. In South Sumatra, the expanding city-state exercised some sort of control over the vast river basin of the Musi, establishing close relationships with upstream and downstream societies, as confirmed by a number of monuments recently brought to light upstream from Palembang. The same could be said for those polities on the Malay Peninsula that were included for a time in the orbit of Srivijaya: they must also be understood as true city-states, at the interface between international trade networks and a rich hinterland, which they tapped to increase their revenues.[]

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Pierre-Yves Manguin, “Srivijaya (Sriwijaya): Overseeing Asian Maritime Trade”, Ooi Keat Gin (ed.), Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor, (California-Colorado-Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2004): 1245-1249.

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I-Ching (I-Tsing) (635–713 C.E.): Buddhist Pilgrim–cum–Travel Writer

I-CHING WAS a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and was the first to take a sea route to India via Southeast Asia. He learned both the Confucian classics and the Buddhist canon as a child. After developing a sense of mission in Buddhism, he became dissatisfied with the Chinese Buddhist texts, which were full of obscure meanings, and was eager to search the original texts. This served as a strong motivating force behind his pilgrimage to India in 671. The twenty-year odyssey was originally designed for a group of about thirty, but it turned out to be a lonely one for I-Ching, as he was deserted by all his companions when the Persian ship set out at Guangzhou (Canton).

I-Ching chose a sea route to circumvent the growing Arabian strength in Central Asia, which made a land route to India insurmountable. His travel to India turned out to be historically important. He brought from India to China 400 volumes of Buddhist manuscripts. The translations done by I-Ching provided the Chinese Buddhists with more authentic texts, which later gained currency in China. Southeast Asia, especially Srivijaya, played a special role in the success of I-Ching’s pilgrimage. He was indebted to the ruler of Srivijaya, who provided much-needed assistance to his travels to India. On his return trip, he stayed for ten years at Palembang, the capital of Srivijaya and a center for Buddhist study, making use of the expertise of the numerous Buddhist monks there for translating the Buddhist texts into Chinese. He also completed here two books about his travels, in which the existence of the kingdom of Srivijaya was first revealed. His writings are invaluable source materials on early Southeast Asian history.[]

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Hans W. Y. Yeung, “I-Ching (I-Tsing) (635–713 C.E.): Buddhist Pilgrim–cum–Travel Writer”, Ooi Keat Gin (ed.), Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor, (California-Colorado-Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2004): 628.

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Jambi

THE JAMBI region, around the basin of the Batanghari River in central Sumatra, was the site of the pre-Islamic kingdom of Melayu. It also sometimes served as the capital of the empire of Sriwijaya (Srivijaya). Jambi was an important pepper port in the seventeenth century and later supplied dragon’s blood resin to China and Europe. Jambi resisted Dutch control until the early twentieth century.

The earliest references to the region are found in Chinese texts, which recorded an embassy from Melayu to the Chinese court around 644 C.E.A stone inscription suggests that Sriwijaya and Melayu were linked during this period, and the writings of I-Tsing (IChing) (635–713 C.E.) have been taken to indicate that Jambi was the capital of Sriwijaya at that time. In the ninth century and again in the eleventh century, Jambi sent further missions to the Chinese court.

The large Buddhist complex of Muara Jambi, 26 kilometers downstream from the modern capital, probably dates from the ninth century, but there is evidence that it was still of importance in the thirteenth, when Melayu seems again to have been the capital of Sriwijaya.Trade in forest products and control of the Straits of Melaka through which foreign shipping passed were key to Jambi’s importance.

In the mid-fourteenth century, the Jambi kingdom came under the control of Adityawarman, who had been brought up in the Majapahit kingdom in Java but was probably the son of the Malay ruler. Adityawarman moved his capital to Dharmashraya, somewhere in the upper reaches of the Batanghari. He extended his power to the highlands of West Sumatra and later moved the capital to Pagarruyung. Although the Kertanagara,a Javanese account, listed it as a dependency of Java, Jambi avoided paying tribute to Majapahit and sought patronage from China. However, this strategy caused Jambi to fall afoul of both Majapahit and China. According to O. W. Wolters (1986), the Javanese laid waste to the Jambi keraton (kraton,royal court, palace) in 1377.

After Adityawarman and until the arrival of European traders, the history of Jambi was recorded only in oral tradition. Islam was probably introduced in the early fifteenth century, when Jambi came under the sway of Demak. By the sixteenth century, Jambi was attracting Arab and Portuguese merchants, but by this time, it owed allegiance to Melaka. In the seventeenth century, pepper brought down the river from the highlands attracted Dutch and English traders. By 1626, Jambi was regarded as the chief source of pepper for the English East India Company (EIC), which brought Indian textiles and gold for exchange. The Dutch also found Jambi a profitable source of pepper, and Jambi enjoyed a time of plenty while manipulating the Anglo-Dutch rivalry.

A fall in pepper prices and conflict with Johor marked the start of economic decline. This process was exacerbated by disputes over royal succession that led to a split between upriver and downriver parts of the kingdom. By the 1630s, the English had left. Dutch attempts to profit from Jambi’s internal difficulties were unsuccessful, and the (Dutch) United East India Company (VOC) closed its post in Jambi in 1770.

In the early nineteenth century, Jambi’s trade was chiefly with the British city ports of Singapore and Penang, the main exports being resins, especially jerenang (dragon’s blood resin). The Dutch returned to Jambi in 1833 and forced a contract with Sultan Muhammad Fakhruddin (Facharudin) (r. ca. 1833–1841) in which he relinquished his rights to import and export duties. However, the British continued to assert their right to trade with Jambi, and Dutch hegemony was circumvented by the use of alternative trade routes.

In 1855, a new ruler, Sultan Taha Saifuddin (r. 1855–1858), came to the throne. He refused to continue the agreements that the Dutch had forced on his predecessors and moved to a secret location in the interior. The Dutch installed a series of puppet rulers, but none agreed to Dutch requests to reside in the capital. From upriver bases, they kept in close contact with Taha, who orchestrated a continuing but erratic resistance to the Dutch, for whom much of the territory remained unsafe.

In 1904, the Dutch killed Taha, and two years later, Jambi became a full residency. Resistance continued for some years, however, and economic factors brought about the relatively settled period thereafter. Local landowners were compensated financially for the use of their land for rubber plantations, heralding a period of prosperity for the people of Jambi. Chinese traders gradually took over the commercial center.

The period of the Japanese occupation (1941–1945) was one of hardship, which continued during the years immediately following Indonesian independence in 1949. Jambi’s history from then on has reflected the fortunes of Indonesia as a whole. Proximity to Singapore, the large and economically active Chinese population, and the availability of timber have meant that a degree of prosperity has been maintained. However, the relative lack of substantial resources such as oil has meant that Jambi has remained something of a backwater.[]

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Fiona G. Kerlogue, “Jambi”, Ooi Keat Gin (ed.), Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor, (California-Colorado-Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2004): 677-678.

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Ekonomi Rakyat versus Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam

“... Lampu nyalo rimbo tajago, lampunyo terang rimbo jangan ditebang ....”

PEMBANGUNAN EKONOMI sering dipertentangkan dengan konservasi sumber daya alam. Bahkan ada yang mengatakan konservasi sumber daya alam dapat menghambat pembangunan ekonomi atau memiskinkan masyarakat.

Tahun 1990 WWF-Indonesia Programme menjajaki kemungkinan memadukan konservasi dengan pengembangan ekonomi rakyat di sekitar Taman Nasional Kerinci Seblat. Awalnya, WWF membantu pengembangan pengelolaan home stay bagi wisatawan asing/lokal pada beberapa rumah masyarakat di Desa Kersik Tuo Kab. Kerinci, berhadapan dengan pintu gerbang pendakian ke Gunung Kerinci serta lokasi transit menuju Danau Gunung Tujuh. Dilakukan pula pelatihan pemandu wisata untuk bisnis ekowisata. Hingga kini, ekowisata berbasis masyarakat masih berlangsung. Desa itu bahkan menjadi simpul ekowisata TNKS di Kabupaten Kerinci. Masyarakat mendapat manfaat langsung. Selain itu, WWF juga mengembangkan sejumlah inisiatif ketika melaksanakan ICDP-TNKS, antara lain lewat:

Program Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Mikro Hidro (PLTMH) Sakti Alam Serampas di Desa Rantau Kermas, Kabupaten Merangin, Provinsi Jambi memiliki slogan lampu nyalo rimbo tajago, lampu nyo terang rimbo jangan ditebang (lampu menyala hutan terjaga, supaya menyala hutan jangan ditebang). Sampai sekarang PLTMH ini masih berfungsi dan menjadi penopang pengembangan ekonomi produktif masyarakat.

Di Jurong Koto Lamo, Kabupaten Pesisir Selatan, Sumatera Barat, tatanan Kerapatan Adat Nagari (KAN) Lakitan sangat ampuh memerangi pembalakan haram di TNKS. Masyarakat secara konsisten melaksanakan Kesepakatan Konservasi Desa (KKD) yang disepakati, apalagi ada pengalaman banjir bandang Sungai Lakitan yang membelah desa mereka, sehingga menyebabkan kerusakan sarana desa, perumahan, dan persawahan.

Di Jurong Sungai Aro, Kabupaten Solok, saat itu, satu usulan Hibah Konservasi Desa (HKD) adalah penggemukan sapi. Warga perambah hutan disepakati memperoleh bantuan sapi pada perguliran pertama. Saat itu 54 keluarga mendapat giliran pertama. Mereka satu persatu meninggalkan ladangnya di TNKS, memulai penggemukan sapi di pekarangan. Mereka juga menanami lahan yang dulu terlantar dengan rumput gajah untuk pakan sapi.

Di Desa Katenong, Kabupeten Rejang Lebong, Bengkulu, yang berbatasan dengan TNKS, mayoritas penduduk berkebun kopi. Tak heran, hampir semua rumah di desa ini menawarkan kopi hangat apabila kita bertandang. Dalam ICDP, desa ini mendapatkan HKD untuk koperasi desa bagi pengadaan sarana produksi pertanian dan simpan-pinjam. Syarat utama anggota koperasi ini adalah tidak merambah/memiliki kebun di dalam TNKS. Banyak yang lalu meninggalkan kebun mereka di TNKS untuk menjadi anggota koperasi. Kopi adalah penggerak utama ekonomi rakyat di sana. Masyarakat memerlukan air untuk memutar kincir yang menggerakkan penggiling kopi, Mereka sadar, untuk kelangsungan sumber air tersebut diperlukan hutan yang lestari untuk terus memutar roda penggiling kopi.[]

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Dudi Rufendi, “Ekonomi Rakyat versus Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam”, Cristina Eghenter, M. Hermayani Putera, Israr Ardiansyah (eds.), Masyarakat dan Konservasi: 50 Kisah yang Menginspirasi dari WWF untuk Indonesia, (WWF-Indonesia, 2012): 12-13.

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Merajut Konservasi dan Pembangunan di TN Kerinci Seblat

“Aspek penting implementasi ICDP adalah adanya insentif untuk tidak merusak alam berupa bantuan kepada masyarakat.”

TAMAN NASIONAL Kerinci-Seblat (TNKS) adalah taman nasional (TN) terluas di Sumatera (1.368.000 Ha) yang dideklarasikan tahun 1982. Lebih dari tiga juta jiwa dan tujuh juta hektar lahan pertanian di Jambi, Sumatera Barat, Bengkulu, dan Sumatera Selatan tergantung pasokan air dari TNKS. Beberapa daerah aliran sungai (DAS) penting yang berhulu di sini adalah Batanghari, Musi, Ketahun, Manjunto, dan Lunang-Silaut.

Tahun 1990 Ditjen PHPA dan WWF-Indonesia Programme mulai melaksanakan proyek pengembangan pengelolaan TNKS. Tiga tahun pertama, kegiatan dipusatkan di Kabupaten Kerinci, Provinsi Jambi (luas 146.000 Ha, 360.000 jiwa) yang 54% wilayahnya berada dalam TNKS. Kegiatan saat itu difokuskan pada pengembangan pengelolaan taman nasional dan pemberdayaan masyarakat terkait konservasi. Kegiatannya mencakup pengembangan infrastruktur pengelolaan, pelatihan staf lapangan, patrol pengamanan, dan pengembangan rencana pengelolaan TN. Titik penting keterlibatan WWF adalah pada pemberdayaan masyarakat sekitar. Pendekatannya adalah dengan memadukan aspek konservasi dengan pemberdayaan sosial ekonomi masyarakat (Integrated Conservation and Development Project or ICDP), yang mulai diterapkan pada pengelolaan kawasan konservasi di dunia pada akhir tahun 1980-an.

Tatanan adat di Kerinci masih sangat kuat. Itu memudahkan interaksi WWF dengan masyarakat. Bersama tokoh adat, WWF menerapkan pendekatan ICDP ini pada penguatan pengelolaan hutan adat, penataan batas TN secara partisipatif, dan pengembangan ekonomi produktif. Seluruh hutan adat yang difasilitasi WWF mendapat SK Bupati. Hutan Adat (HA) itu adalah HA Lekuk 50 Tumbi Hulu Air Lempur (meraih penghargaan lingkungan se-Provinsi Jambi, 1993), HA Temedak Desa Keluru (memperoleh Kalpataru, 1992), dan HA Nenek Limo Hiang Tinggi-Nenek Empat Betung Kuning-Muara Air Dua (penghargaan lingkungan se-Provinsi Jambi 1994).

Keberhasilan ini menarik perhatian Bank Dunia. WWF diminta mereplikasi program itu di 10 desa di empat provinsi sebagai model pengelolaan proyek ICDP TNKS di 76 desa.

Aspek penting implementasi ICDP adalah adanya insentif untuk tidak merusak alam. Aspek insentif berupa bantuan kepada masyarakat “Hibah Konservasi Desa (HKD)” yang dirancang dan diimplementasikan secara partisipatif. Dana HKD itu disalurkan Bank Dunia melalui pemerintah setelah ada jaminan “Kesepakatan Konservasi Desa (KKD)”, yaitu dokumen kesepakatan masyarakat untuk konservasi yang disahkan oleh Pemerintah Kabupaten dan Pengelola TNKS.

KKD berfungsi untuk mengatur pemanfaatan ruang di desa secara terencana, mengatur perencanaan dan pelaksanaan pembangunan yang relevan dengan pelestarian TNKS serta potensi sumber daya alam desa, juga mengatur strategi dan mekanisme kontrol secara partisipatif pemanfaatan sumber daya alam desa. Hasil KKD adalah perencanaan tata guna lahan yang rasional dan layak terap di desa, kejelasan batas lahan budidaya dan kawasan TNKS yang disepakati bersama, pemanfaatan SDA di daerah penyangga yang terencana dan berkelanjutan, serta TNKS menjadi bagian dari keseharian masyarakat untuk dilestarikan.[]

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Dudi Rufendi, “Merajut Konservasi dan Pembangunan di TN Kerinci Seblat”, Cristina Eghenter, M. Hermayani Putera, Israr Ardiansyah (eds.), Masyarakat dan Konservasi: 50 Kisah yang Menginspirasi dari WWF untuk Indonesia, (WWF-Indonesia, 2012): 10-11.

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Incorporating Social and Natural Science in the Restoration of an Indonesian Conservation Forest: A Case Study from Jambi

Abstract  

ALTHOUGH LARGE areas of forest in Indonesia have been degraded it has proved difficult to implement large-scale forest restoration programs to overcome this degradation. Some of the difficulties are illustrated by a forest restoration project undertaken at Grand Forest Park Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin, in Jambi Province, Indonesia. Following a period of poorly regulated logging and uncontrolled agricultural clearing the area contained a mosaic of secondary forests, grasslands and agricultural crops. Although the central government had designated the area as a conservation reserve a number of farmers remained living there even though they lacked formal land tenure. Responsibility for restoring forests and managing the area passed from the central government to local government. Planning forest restoration in the area was undertaken following discussions between villager communities, government agencies, NGOs and local university staff. A high priority was given to making forest restoration an attractive land use activity for villagers in the area. Several types of reforestation were undertaken in different areas including restoration of a secondary forest area, reforestation of severely degraded sites and grasslands with timber species and reforestation involving agroforestry techniques. Promising results were obtained although there were differences between sites depending on the species being used and the support provided by the villagers involved. The major problem with implementing reforestation on a large scale in this area has been to maintain continuity. The project ended in 2006 when funding ceased. Since that time many of the government staff supervising the project have been replaced and left the area. Many of the new staff are not aware of the background to the project and have been unable to maintain it.

Within this chapter: (1) Introduction, (2) Forest Land Use in Indonesia, (3) The Grand Forest Park Sultan Thaha Syaifudin–Jambi Province, (4) The Restoration Approach, (5) Rehabilitation and Ecological Restoration in Grand Forest Park, (6) Conclusions, (7) References.[]

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Ulfah J. Siregar, Iskandar Z. Siregar, S. Wilarso Budi, Yulius Hero, Didik Suharjito and Hardjanto, “Incorporating Social and Natural Science in the Restoration of an Indonesian Conservation Forest: A Case Study from Jambi”, John Stanturf, Palle Madsen and David Lamb (eds.), A Goal-Oriented Approach to Forest Landscape Restoration, (Netherland: Springer, 2012): 41-62.

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Ekonomi Karet Rakyat Indonesia, Tahun 1890-an Sampai 1940

Bambang Purwanto, "Ekonomi Karet Rakyat Indonesia, Tahun 1890-an sampai 1940", J. Thomas Linblad, Fondasi Historis Ekonomi Indonesia, (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar & Pusat Studi Sosial Asia Tenggara UGM, 2002): 204-225.


Abstrak

Artikel ini merupakan survei perkembangan penanaman karet rakyat Indonesia pada era kolonial akhir. Tulisan ini berkaitan dengan permasalahan pokok seperti rangsangan-rangsangan untuk penanaman karet (harga-harga pasar dunia yang tinggi), karakteristik-karakteristik umum daerah Jambi, Palembang, dan Kalimantan Selatan (akses sungai) yang menghasilkan karet dan fase-fase perkembangan (titik-titik balik sekitar tahun 1909/1912, 1926/1929, 1932/1934), struktur internal karet rakyat dan berbagai implikasi penanaman karet. (hlm. 204)


Epilog

Jatuhnya harga-harga karet yang [di]mulai pada akhir tahun 1920-an merupakan titik balik bagi para produsen karet rakyat di Palembang, Jambi, dan Kalimantan Selatan karena harga-harga karet tidak pernah pulih ke tingkat yang lebih awal. Pasar tertekan dan permintaan untuk barang-barang mewah turun secara tajam. Namun demikian, hal ini tidak berarti bahwa penanaman karet tidak lagi memberi berbagai keuntungan bagi ekonomi penduduk setempat. Meskipun kondisi-kondisi ekonomi merosot selama 1930-an, standar hidup penduduk di kebanyakan daerah penghasil karet lebih baik daripada yang ditemukan di daerah-daerah lain. Benar bahwa surplus tidak cukup besar untuk meningkatkan produktivitas ekonomi atau untuk menciptakan peluang-peluang ekonomi baru di luar sektor karet. Ini juga tidak cukup untuk memantapkan ekonomi pedesaan atau untuk memulai pertumbuhan ekonomi yang berkelanjutan. Ia hanya memberikan kemakmuran dalam masa yang relatif. Namun demikian, keuntungan yang besar yang diperoleh dari karet selama boom-boom lebih awal dan pemulihan yang cepat produksi dan harga-harga karet pada akhir tahun 1930-an menyelamatkan penduduk dari kesengsaraan ekonomi. (hlm. 223)

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Berdirinya Kekuasaan Kolonial di Jambi: Partai Ganda Politik dan Ekonomi

E.B. Locher-Scholten, "Berdirinya Kekuasaan Kolonial di Jambi: Partai Ganda Politik dan Ekonomi", J. Thomas Linblad (ed.), Fondasi Historis Ekonomi Indonesia, (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar & Pusat Studi Sosial Asia Tenggara UGM, 2002): 159-177.


Abstrak

ARTIKEL INI menunjukkan bahwa sejarah ekonomi Jambi abad ke-19 dan abad ke-20 mewujudkan sebuah jalinan faktor-faktor administratif politik dan ekonomi. Dibukanya perusahaan minyak, ketika berubah menjadi masalah administratif, menyediakan dorongan bagi pendirian kekuasaan kolonial di daerah ini. Pemberian konsensi-konsensi minyak ternyata sangat dipolitisasi, dan berakhir dalam penciptaan posisi monopoli bagi usaha patungan negara dan kerajaan Belanda. Namun demikian, bukan perusahaan negara tetapi prakarsa swastalah, yakni produksi karet pribumi, yang menyediakan insentif bagi modernisasi di Jambi pada periode kolonial. Meskipun proses ini terganggu oleh depresi pada tahun 1930-an, negara kolonial berusaha mendapatkan pegangan sumber pendapatan ini dan menyadapnya untuk keuntungan diri sendiri.[]

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Perjuangan untuk Menjadi Bagian dari Proses Perubahan Agraria yang Menguntungkan: Studi Kasus Perkebunan Sawit di Kabupaten Sarolangun, Jambi

Sutaryono, Amien Tohari, Anik Iftitah, dan Ahmad Nashih Luthfi, “Perjuangan untuk Menjadi Bagian dari Proses Perubahan Agraria yang Menguntungkan: Studi Kasus Perkebunan Sawit di Kabupaten Sarolangun, Jambi”, Ahmad Nashih Luthfi (ed.), Kebijakan, Konflik, dan Perjuangan Agraria Indonesia Awal Abad 21: Hasil Penelitian Sistematis STPN, 2012, (Yogyakarta: Pusat Penelitian dan Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat Sekolah Tinggi Pertanahan Nasional, 2012): 36-69.


SIANG HARI 20 Mei 2012, sekitar 50 orang berkendara sepeda motor mendatangi areal perkebunan PT. Jambi Agro Wijaya (JAW) di Air Hitam, Kabupaten Sarolangun, Jambi. Satpam berusaha menghalau, tapi jumlahnya yang sedikit tak membuahkan arti apa pun. Bersama beberapa karyawan lainnya, para satpam lari tunggang langgang. Massa yang tak terbendung kemudian membakar apa saja yang ditemui. Tercatat 60 dari 64 rumah karyawan beserta isinya, 15 hektar kebun kelapa sawit, dan 3 sepeda motor ludes terbakar. Sebuah koran lokal di Jambi memperkirakan kerugian mencapai Rp 5 miliar.

Mengapa pembakaran itu terjadi? Faktor apa yang melatarbelakanginya? Pertanyaan-pertanyaan itu yang berusaha dijawab oleh tim peneliti dari STPN Yogyakarta dalam bagian kedua buku Kebijakan, Konflik, dan Perjuangan Agraria Indonesia Awal Abad 21. Menurut mereka, peristiwa pembakaran oleh warga tersebut tidak bisa dipisahkan dari perubahan agraria yang terjadi di Jambi, khususnya pasca-otonomi daerah.

Setelah kejatuhan Orde Baru, reformasi muncul dengan semangat distribusi keadilan yang lebih merata. Salah satu bentuknya adalah pemberian kewenangan kepada daerah untuk mengelola sendiri wilayahnya, yang tertuang dalam kebijakan otonomi. Demi pemerataan dan memendekkan jalur birokrasi, terjadi pemekaran daerah. Di Jambi, berdirinya Kabupaten Sarolangun pada 1999 tidak bisa dipisahkan dari semangat itu.

Sebagai daerah baru, Sarolangun mesti melakukan banyak hal, salah satunya menghasilkan pendapatan yang besar agar bisa membangun daerahnya dan bersaing dengan kabupaten induk. Dengan potensi wilayahnya yang luas, sektor perkebunan menjadi pilihan. Hak guna usaha (HGU) pun banyak diberikan kepada perusahaan perkebunan. Hingga 2012, tak kurang 35 perusahaan perkebunan memiliki HGU di Sarolangun. Yang terluas adalah HGU milik PT JAW yang merupakan anak usaha Bakrie Sumatra Plantation, yakni mencapai 22.021,59 hektar atau 60 persen dari keseluruhan luas HGU.

Kehadiran perusahaan-perusahaan perkebunan itu kerap menimbulkan konflik dengan masyarakat sekitar. Penyebabnya macam-macam, namun umumnya terkait kepemilikan lahan yang tumpang-tindih. Dalam catatan tim peneliti, sepanjang 2011-2012 saja terdapat setidaknya sepuluh konflik lahan yang melibatkan masyarakat dan perusahaan, salah satunya PT JAW.

Konflik masyarakat dengan PT JAW muncul sejak 2007 ketika perusahaan belum lama beroperasi. Masyarakat mengklaim bahwa sekitar 2.000 hektar lahan HGU PT JAW sebenarnya milik mereka. Sementara perusahaan membantah dengan menyebut masyarakat sebagai penggarap liar di lahan HGU.

Klaim masyarakat tersebut disampaikan kepada pemerintah kabupaten lewat surat. Karena tidak ada tanggapan dalam waktu lama, pada Desember 2010 masyarakat menggelar demonstrasi ke DPRD. Sebuah tim yang terdiri atas anggota DPRD, kepolisian, dan TNI kemudian dibentuk untuk melakukan pengecekan. Hasil pengecekan pada Januari 2011 dibahas di rumah dinas Bupati dengan melibatkan juga anggota DPD. Salah satu putusannya, akan dilakukan pengukuran ulang HGU. Apabila ada lahan masyarakat yang terdapat di HGU, ditawarkan dua opsi: di-inclave dari HGU atau dijadikan mitra oleh perusahaan. Namun kemudian keputusan tersebut tidak berlanjut dan tanpa realisasi.

Selain pemerintah daerah, BPN Sarolangun juga melakukan pengecekan dan mediasi pada Agustus 2011. Temuannya lebih rumit: ada lahan yang digarap masyarakat sejak 1986, luasnya tidak seperti diklaim, sebagian sudah dilakukan jual-beli oleh oknum masyarakat, perusahaan juga telah memberikan ganti rugi atas penggarapan lahan HGU oleh masyarakat yang sudah telanjur dikerjakan.

Pada Desember 2011, diadakan pertemuan lanjutan dengan masyarakat dan pemerintah. Saat itu masyarakat mengatakan bahwa tidak pernah ada sosialisasi HGU PT JAW sebelumnya. Pada Februari 2012 juga diadakan pertemuan, tapi pihak PT JAW tidak datang.

Berbagai upaya mediasi dan penyelesaian macet. Hingga kemudian terjadi peristiwa pembakaran itu.

Konflik lahan sebagaimana antara masyarakat dan PT JAW banyak terjadi di Jambi. Pada awalnya banyak sekali lahan di Jambi yang tak bertuan. Hingga 2000-an awal, umum terjadi pembukaan lahan kosong oleh masyarakat. Ketika perusahaan perkebunan mendapatkan HGU, sering HGU-nya tumpang-tindih dengan lahan bukaan dari masyarakat. Terlebih ketika kelapa sawit menjadi primadona perkebunan sejak 1990-an, masyarakat seperti berlomba membuka lahan. Hadirnya perusahaan-perusahaan perkebunan besar di Jambi juga disebabkan demam sawit yang sama.

Menurut tim peneliti, yang terjadi sesungguhnya baik masyarakat maupun perusahaan tengah bertarung untuk masuk ke dalam arena pasar sawit yang lebih luas. Karena pintu masuk untuk sampai ke sana adalah kepemilikan tanah, perebutan tanah menjadi tak terhindarkan. Perusahaan masuk lewat HGU, sementara masyarakat lewat pembukaan lahan. Perubahan agraria di Jambi belakangan banyak ditentukan oleh faktor itu. Di sini terlihat bahwa baik perusahaan maupun masyarakat berkonflik karena keinginan untuk menjadi bagian dari perubahan agraria yang mereka anggap menjanjikan dan menguntungkan (the struggle for better incorporation).

Konsep better incorporation yang digagas tim peneliti diinspirasi oleh John F. McCarthy. Dari hasil risetnya sepanjang 2007-2009 di Jambi, McCarthy menemukan bahwa ada banyak pola pelibatan masyarakat dalam sistem besar niaga sawit, antara lain plasma atau kemitraan, yakni lahan milik masyarakat digarap oleh perusahaan dan masyarakat mendapatkan bagi hasil darinya. Pola ini sering kali tidak transparan terkait hasil dan keuntungan, sehingga merugikan masyarakat. Dengan temuan tersebut, McCarthy menunjukkan bahwa kemiskinan atau ketidakberdayaan sering kali bukan karena orang tidak dimasukkan dalam sebuah sistem (exclusion), melainkan pelibatan mereka (inclusion) memang diskemakan untuk membuat mereka tidak berdaya dan merugi (adverse incorporation). Konflik juga acap muncul akibat pola yang tak menguntungkan masyarakat atau petani ini.

Penelitian tim STPN Yogyakarta membantah bahwa persoalan konflik bukan saja karena pelibatan yang merugikan, tetapi ada juga yang diakibatkan persaingan untuk saling mendapat untung. Paling tidak ini hasil pentingnya, yakni penyebab yang melatarbelakangi konflik agraria tidaklah satu, tetapi banyak dan beragam.

Pertanyaannya, apakah benar semata cari untung, kalau kemudian yang terjadi adalah saling bunuh dan serang secara brutal? Tidak adakah hal yang lebih mendasar dari itu?[]

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