On September 15^th, more than 500 people from several neighboring communities set fire to logging equipment owned by the timber company Argo Nusa. These ethnic Togeans from Bungayo (a series of villages on the island of Talatakoh) descended on the logging camp, demanding the company stop operations and leave the island immediately. 

Enraged over the exploitation of their lands, they burned two logging trucks and a bulldozer. Community members later assembled outside local parlaiment, demanding an explanation for the government’s misappropriation of their traditional lands and forests. The local authorities were not sympathetic, and subsequently arrested six youth. Failing to recieve an answer, the villagers converged on the police station, prepared to force the release of the arrested youth. Following the company’s departure from the Island on September 17^th, police freed the six in custody; however, the effected communities are still awaiting compensation.

On September 18^th the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Togean (Alliance of Indigenous Togean Peoples) and the Solidaritas Perempuan Togean (Togean Women’s Solidarity) held demonstrations in the Kayome Forest, also on the island of Batudako. For generations the Bobongko people have relied on the forest, taking only what they needed for food and housing. They are opposed to any project that would create plantations or otherwise destroy the forest of which they are a part.

In 1998, a letter from the Governor of Central Sulawesi gave permission to Cahaya Flora Perkasa Kencana (CFPK), a logging syndicate from Kalimantan, to cut the island. This company creates plantations, neglecting the welfare of local people and communities. Failing to consult with village elders, the company manipulated an "approval" to log the area. The position of the district and provincial governments and the Forestry Department, together with the destructive nature of large-scale forestry companies, is alienating the Bobongko peoples’ traditional lands.

To loby for reparations and stop the destruction of their forest, the people of Batudako have been forced to resort to desperate measures. On the 18^th of September at 9:00 AM, a large group gathered at the logging camp and seized two bulldozers, a large generator and television set.

Support for their effort has grown and now involves much more than just five villages fighting for control over their resources. People from nearby islands have also come to the Kayome forest, suggesting solidarity among the indigenous community to drive imperialism from their homes. 430 people have amassed, representing four different ethnic groups - the Bobongko, Togean, Saluan and Bajau Indigenous people - and Solidaritas Perempuan Togean.

The strength of the Togean People is rapidly being undermined by the actions of investors and large companies operating on the Islands. The threat of exploitation from international companies is very real. Two large pearl harvesting industries, Tamatsu and Cahaya Cemerlang, based out of Japan and Australia respectively, have set up operations in the Islands and foreign tour operators have claimed large tracts of the coastal area. These cases of foreign exploitation are adding fuel to the battle to reestablish some form of local self-determination over the resources. An increasing number of people are realizing that is just another form of imperialism, as the Dutch colonialism was more than half a century ago.

There is a strong resolve to act, among those involved, and a conference scheduled for November will attempt to address issues surrounding the Indigenous Peoples of the Togeans. The Congress will bring together the four ethnic groups in the archipelago, looking at ways of effecting their acess and rights to the ocean and land based resources. It is hoped that this will again put increased pressure on political elements and force out those who would otherwise exploit their land.

I hope these accounts of the Togean peoples and their resistance to imperialism will have some effect. 

Agus Faisal