With a vast area surrounded by forests, Arombu Utama Village” in Latoma district, Konawe regency, Southeast Sulawesi province, looks as if it is uninhabited on most days.
By
Desa yang Lengang dan Perda Akal-akalan
·3 minutes read
The road was deserted apart from a stone marked with the words “Arombu Utama Village” in Latoma district, Konawe regency, Southeast Sulawesi province. On that Saturday (23/11/2019) afternoon, you could only hear the sound of cows walking on the gravel road.
A few kilometers later, there was a crowd of villagers. Nanang, 29, and around a dozen other villagers were sitting on a stage measuring 10 meters by 5 meters.
“We are preparing a wedding ceremony for a local couple. The ceremony is next week. It’s good for getting together,” said Nanang, who is also a village administrator.
It’s a four-hour drive from the regency capital to the village.
Because of the event, the village had become crowded. With a vast area surrounded by forests, the village looks as if it is uninhabited on most days.
Arombu Utama, with only 30 families, 123 people in total, has an area of 1,600 hectares. The village, the residents of which mostly cultivate cocoa, is at the farthest end of Konawe regency. It’s a four-hour drive from the regency capital to the village. Locals were forced to rent boat services after the bridge collapsed four months ago.
This is a portrait of a village that has received village funds since 2017. Arombu Utama is one of 56 villages deemed problematic as it was established under Konawe regency Regulation No. 7/2011, which has been deemed as legally problematic by the Home Ministry.
Blown up
In the allegedly manipulated regulation, the number of Arombu Utama’s residents was inflated significantly to 173 families comprising 1,030 people. Its establishment was also backdated to 2011, despite the village itself having only existed since 2015, after it was split from Latoma Jaya village.
Arombu Utama’s former acting village head Murad Barahima, 51, said the village’s establishment was not based on residents’ aspirations. “The regency administration came and told us that a new village could be established. I was appointed to oversee the preparations. I did not even know what the purpose [of the new village’s establishment] was,” Murad said.
Since 2017, Arombu Utama has received Rp 1.6 billion (US4113,465) in village funds, which has been used to install iron sheet roofs on people’s houses and to build roads and drainage.
Lerehoma village in Anggaberi district also looked uninhabited. The village, located 16.5 kilometers from the Konawe regency offices, is surrounded by oil palm plantations. There are gaps of almost 500 meters between houses.
With an area of 15,000 hectares, the village only has 65 families, a total of 247 people. There are only 40 houses in the village that was established in 2017.
Lerehoma’s former acting village head Jasran said the village had lost almost half of its population after a conflict in the 2000s. He also said the data on Lerehoma’s population as cited in regional regulation No. 7/2011, namely 190 families of 1,077 people, was wrong. “The village has never been that large. We were 500 people at most and even this was before the conflict,” he said.
Empty villages in Konawe were established with an allegedly manipulated regulation in order to get village fund disbursement. Consequently, the use of the funds has come under question. Local and Waworaha village establishment campaigner in Besulutu district, Isman, 54, said the village fund use had never been transparent. Locals are not allowed to ask questions about programs that use the village funds.
“Every time someone asks questions about village fund use, [the village head] says it is a state secret and locals have nothing to do with it,” Isman said.