In 2000, a group of farmers from an Indonesian mountain village were in the middle of protesting to regain rights to their ancestral land, when they were taken into custody. They were charged as criminals of the state, not knowing if or when they would be released to continue their struggle…
In this episode, we follow the story of the farmers of Bandungan and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). We learn how a small rural farming community whose land had been seized by a military dictatorship in the 1960s organized themselves, and built unshakable community power to help fuel Indonesia’s pro-democracy movement. And we begin to wonder if community power can rise up and take hold after years of suffocation by authoritarian rule.
Special thanks to Pratiwi Febry, Rakhma Mary Herwati and YLBHI- the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation.
This episode was produced by Jackie Sofia and Poorvi Chitalkar.
A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada.
Follow the Grassroots Justice Network on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @grassrootsjn, and share your thoughts with us by emailing community@namati.org.
A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes from Grassroots Justice
Episode 3: YLBHI, “From Regime to Rendang”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:00:00] This is A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes of Grassroots Justice. And today, we’re joined by Jackie Sofia, our managing producer.
Jackie Sofia, Managing Producer [00:00:09] Hey, Jackie.
Jackie Sofia, Managing Producer [00:00:10] Hi, Poorvi. So I wanted to come onto the podcast today just to say a little something before the episode begins. At this point, if you’ve listen to the past couple stories, you know that strategies for social justice and food recipes share a lot. And one thing we’ve noticed in particular is that some of the greatest recipes require time and patience. Sometimes while we’re cooking, you know, we wonder whether it’s worth the time and effort. We can lose our appetites in the process, pouring so much of ourselves into this dish that it just drains us. And we know that many justice defenders around the world right now, they’re feeling this way today. People in countries from Myanmar to Argentina and here in the United States, we’re watching progress slow down or even stall. Maybe some people feel things are moving backwards. But the reality is this: progress takes time. It doesn’t always move in a straight line or in the way we want it to. And the times of patience and waiting, they’re never just that. Instead, they’re opportunities for reflection, for re-strategizing. It can give us a new perspective. And in those moments, maybe we can look at it as a recipe. And if we don’t get it right the first time, there’s always the chance to try it again differently. And today’s episode is a good reminder of this. Okay, On to our show.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:02:06] Rendang is the most delicious dish in Indonesia. I think in the world also if I’m not mistaken. Maybe five grade. You know, Rendang, it is- the way it is cooking, this is very long. It takes long hours for cooking, like nine hours to become really, really delicious. Rendang.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:02:24] This is Rakhma. She works at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. Y-L-B-H-I. And you’ll hear us call it YLBHI throughout this episode.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:02:36] As facilitator, YLBHI, we try to combine all of the ingredients, it’s also spices, into one. And we cook it very slowly and we just stay there because it cannot be- after you put all of these ingredients and you just go. No, it’s not like that, because the coconut milk, will separate. So you have to still stand. You have to still stir- stir all of the ingredients, also the beef itself, until it is cooked. And once you- you’re not patient about what you are cooking, then all is gone.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:03:14] Sometimes the cooker, he or she will lost their own appetite because the long time that they already been through while processing the dish.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:03:25] And this is Pratiwi, also from YLBI. Like Rakhma, she knows what it means to be a patient cook.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:03:33] But the cooker will be happy when the dish is served to other people and they can enjoy the food.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:03:42] In this episode we follow the story of the farmers of Bandungan and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation or YLBHI. We learn how a small rural farming community whose land had been seized by a military dictatorship in the 1960s organized, stood up for their rights and in this process built unshakable community power that continues to fuel the fight for democracy in Indonesia today. Stay with us. This is A Common Pot, a podcast where we explore stories and recipes for social justice and systems change from around the world.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:04:46] Hi, everyone. I’m Pratiwi. I work in Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. It’s kind of a foundation that give a structural legal aid services to the poor, marginalized, and the oppressed. And I’m here responsible for the research and organizational development.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:05:11] For my role as well, as the member of Knowledge Management Team Assembly. And I have to manage sources of knowledge in our office to be translated into advocacy, into new strategy of advocacy.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:05:30] YLBHI was established in the midst of a brutal dictatorship. In 1965, a military coup took over the leadership of Indonesia, led by General Suharto. From 1965 until 1998, the Suharto regime was marked by deadly repression, authoritarianism and corruption. This period of authoritarian rule was coined the New Order. In 1971, following the military coup, YLBHI was founded. Back then, not many could have predicted the central role that this organization would play in Indonesian history in terms of struggles for agrarian reform, labor rights and democracy itself.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:06:14] What we are doing is called a structural approach. During that time we start to call our legal aid as a structural legal aid.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:06:24] In basic terms, legal aid is when a lawyer gives legal services to poor clients at either low or no cost to the client. But what YLBHI was doing was much more than that. They were providing structural legal aid.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:06:40] In 1970s, we are not the first legal aid organization, actually, but our approach really different with other legal aid organizations, because we understand the context of the regime at that time. The poor people, is not poor because of their laziness. The poor people or the marginalized or the vulnerable community in Indonesia until todays, they are being oppressed not because they are poor economically, but also there’s a superstructure- superstructure that make them under pressure, that make them oppressed, that make them experience the injustice at the grassroots level. The way we do our legal aid is to involve our client, to involve the grassroot, to involve the community. And we call it since the very beginning, as the critical legal education. Or nowadays we call it critical legal empowerment, or legal empowerment. We believe that the justice- the people will receive the justice if they are empowered and they can raise their own voice and they can fight for their rights.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:08:02] And so YLBHI’s main goal became to transform the superstructure causing the injustices that people in Indonesia faced. They didn’t just want to solve individual cases of injustice at the ground level. They set their eyes on something much bigger. The rule of law and democracy.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:08:20] Since that time, we also try to influence how the government of Indonesia establish this democratic state, or country, and we are developing our idea or our imagination about how it’s supposed to be as a democratic state and also the rule of law state.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:08:44] Building democracy is a long and difficult struggle. But YLBHI was strategic. First, they recognized that building a vast movement requires decentralization. They established 18 local chapters that were able to respond to the needs of grassroots communities in different parts of Indonesia. This decentralization encouraged leadership and empowerment at the local level. It also safeguarded against the risk of destabilizing the entire movement in one blow. If one organization was shut down by the regime, others could still carry the torch.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:09:23] The regime really oppressed the grassroots movement- the civil society. We as a legal aid organization understand that the risk or the attack it’s also bigger to the civil society organization and most of the civil society organization is under attack and they are stopped. So at that time, the thought of our former lawyers was how to spread out the risk. Actually, this is kind of the strategy of safeguarding for the organization, but also for the movement. So we spread out the risk to other civil society organizations that we established.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:10:14] YLBHI’s second strategy was to create formal institutions at the national level, which would provide more structure to the movement and sustain momentum over the long term.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:10:25] We were creating the civil society organization that support social changes such as Indonesian Corruption Watch, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, and also National Law Reform Consortium. And then the most important thing, because the media- the mainstream media were under the regime control, we also built our own media office. We call it Voice of Human Rights media office.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:11:00] And it set YLBHI up for what was coming next. In 1996, an economic crisis hit Indonesia. It was a period of economic decline and unrest. And as a student led movement rose up with the ambition of toppling the dictatorship, YLBHI saw this as an opportunity and transformed itself into a hub for the pro-democracy movement.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:11:27] People call it at that time as the Locomotive of Democracy, because our office is the main place to consolidate the civil society movement, the grassroots movement at that time. And in this Reform Era from 1998 to today’s situation, or today’s time, we call it as our strategic role. And in this time, we do a lot of intervention on law and policy and also institutions that support democracy and human rights. And we support how to open the public sphere to encourage people participation.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:12:11] In 1998, Indonesia’s pro-democracy movement forced Suharto to resign.
[Archival Tape] [00:12:17] After 33 years of power, President Suharto finally resigned. In a brief and apologetic statement. Before he’d even finished speaking, jubilation erupted at parliament.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:12:28] As the locomotive of democracy, YLBHI’s decentralized model helped encourage public participation across the country in shaping democracy for the next era, The Reform Era. With the start of the Reform Era, victims of Suharto’s brutal dictatorship saw an opening, a chance to reclaim their rights. This was especially the case for local farming communities. They wanted to reclaim the land that had been grabbed by Suharto’s regime and sold off to corporate entities in the 60s and 70s. And at this time, a community of farmers in the Bandungan province in Central Java gathered together and they decided to take steps to reclaim their own ancestral land. Bandungan is located in the highlands of a district in Central Java called Semarang. The people of Bandungan have been farmers for generations. In Javanese culture, the land is more than just a way of earning income. It is woven into the fabric of their very existence. However, according to the government of Indonesia, the land was not theirs.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:13:52] We think that, what’s the land means for them? It means their livelihood and their root of family. Their ancestors already owned the land, already occupied the land. So they believe that the land is their rights. The land also means for them their livelihood. All the people who will stay in Bandungan, they work as farmers. So we understand what it means when the farmer has no land. They only becoming laborer of the farm. But in other perspective, some of them they hold the local belief as we know it, as Kejawen. In Kejawen beliefs, they believe that the land is also part of their house of worship and it consists of the historical – about their ancestor, and then the second – about their livelihood, and then third is about their belief. So they are reclaiming their rights, their elders’ right, who occupied the land that being took over by the military and then suddenly changed to the corporation that we call it Kartasura Company.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:15:18] In 1973 when their sacred land was taken from them during Suharto’s land grabbing spree, it was then granted to a commercial plantation company called Kartasura. At first, the certificate of cultivation from the agency gave this company permission to only use the land for growing plants for the purpose of making perfumes.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:15:42] But they abandoned that. And after that, they built like a farm, animal farm on the plantation. Horse, and also cows, and it is polluted. Yeah. The animal farm polluted the water for consumption- the drinking water for consumption for people, for the farmers living around the plantation area. And because of the pollution, the farmers started to protest to the government. And the National Land Agency actually knows that the plantation abandoned the land, and also instead they built animal farm on the plantation. But they didn’t want to revoke the right of commercial cultivation at the first time. But because of the protests of the farmers, they- they started to examine, they started to go for visiting the village and then try to check everything.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:16:48] The National Land Agency finally saw for themselves what the farmers had been telling them. And in 2000, the provincial legislative office submitted a recommendation letter to revoke the right of commercial cultivation from this company.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:17:02] And it is worked. Then they finally- they revoked the right of commercial cultivation itself in 2001.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:17:09] Now that they successfully ended the cultivation license, the farmers wanted to reclaim their ownership of the land. And so, they organized themselves.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:17:19] So the establishment of the farmer organization was the manifestation of their seriousness- the Bandungan farmers seriousness to carry out this struggle. They thought that they can do it by themselves because they already consolidized. They have their own organization, they also connected with other farmer organization in Central Java called ORTAJA. And they believe that this farmer organization can handle it by themselves.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:17:55] They went to the National Land Agency with the request for a certificate that would give them the rights to the land. This was the same agency that had just ruled in the farmers favor by revoking the cultivation rights of the Kartasura Company. And yet this new request was rejected. From there, they protested and the government responded by telling them to lawyer up.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:18:21] But the government really ensured that the farmer organization will lost this case. So the government said to them, “Look for your legal assistant, our legal representative, because you will lose this case!”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:18:38] While all of this is going on, one of YLBHI’s local civil society chapters, the Semarang Legal Aid, was watching.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:18:46] At the same time, Semarang Legal Aid read a news about the reclaiming action about the protests of the Bandungan farmers. And then they came to the village to offer legal assistance to the leader of the farmer. But at that time, the Semarang Legal Aid staff, they were rejected by the farmers- by the head of the farmers. Because the farmers say that, “We don’t need your legal assistance. We can do by ourselves.”
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:19:19] Among the farmers organizing in Bandungan, there was a local leader who emerged, a farmer named Sutrisno.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:19:27] Yes, a very tough character. Many farmers, all of the members of the local organization have the respect of this leader. And when he asks the farmers to do A or B or C, they will follow.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:19:44] And so without the assistance of Semarang Legal Aid, Sutrisno and the other farmers decided to organize and pursue rights to the land on their own. They began to organize and to protest the rejection from the National Land Agency. Protest felt like the best approach to get the attention of the government and bring the greater farming communities’ attention to their shared struggle.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:20:17] In the midst of their organizing efforts, life continued. One day while in the market with his wife Surami, Sutrisno suddenly found himself surrounded by police. He was taken into custody, leaving his wife alone in the market not knowing what had happened or where her husband was being taken. Word soon spread back to Surami that her husband and some others had been charged as being criminals of the state.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:20:45] So the community actually when it happened, the criminalization happened, the community was shocked because they never thought it will happen to their community. And the important thing that happened at that time, they tried to consolidate. They shocked and they felt afraid, but they’re not stopped there. Actually besides the criminalization- Sutrisno being criminalized at that time, actually, what we call it, stigmatizing or the Black Campaign also happen to all the farmers who try to occupy the land. They stigmatized as a communist.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:21:33] In Indonesia, being marked as a communist invokes memories of a dark history. In 1965, when the Indonesian government was overthrown by the Suharto led military coup, anyone who opposed the military dictatorship was accused of being a communist. Those accused included union members, intellectuals, ethnic Chinese and farmers. In addition to land grabs, Suharto’s regime directed and carried out the mass murder of approximately 1 million accused communists across Indonesia. From then on, to be called a communist was having a target on your back.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:22:15] Surami also, I think in this Bandungan case play a really important role. While Sutrisno being jailed by the police, Surami actually quietly she and some of farmers’ wife- others farmers’ wife- actually in silence, they learned how to fight from their husbands. For them, it also mean their knowledge, women knowledge, women livelihood. They already built their own knowledge on land, how they work on the land, how they cultivate the land, how they built their culture on the land. So it means not only livelihood, but also means women’s knowledge and women’s culture. That knowledge when they cultivate the land become their power. So when the land taken from them, it means that their knowledge taken from them.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:23:14] The local YLBHI staff of Semarang Legal Aid met at Surami’s home and helped strategize about how to fight the case against Sutrisno and the others who had been arrested. This was the beginning of a partnership between the farmers of Bandungan and Semarang Legal Aid. First, they organized a protest with Semarang Legal Aid providing legal knowledge and support about how to protest within their rights in a way that would put pressure on the police to release the arrested farmers and avoid others getting arrested in the process. It was Surami who led the charge.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:23:51] She started to organize all the farmers there to come to the police station, to come to the police office to protest for the release of the three leaders that have been arrested by the police before. And at the same time also to organize, to consolidate the other farmers that are still outside and give support for the three leaders at the police office. Because of the protest of the farmer in front of the police officers, then the three leaders were released.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:24:31] And the protest worked. Semarang Legal Aid provided critical legal education to the community on the criminal cases against the arrested farmers. The objective was to get charges against the farmers dropped, but also make an example of their case. These were people who were claiming legal rights to their ancestral land. They were not criminals.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:24:54] Our lawyers did gave them legal critical education about what is the criminal code first that used to criminalize Sutrisno. They learned each word how the case theory being established by the police, how to turn over the case. We learned that together with the community. After the Sutrisno case goes to the court, the judge’s verdict say that verdict was “Free Sutrisno.” And then after that, they are continuing because they are really get their self esteem because the judge has already released Sutrisno and there is no proof that Sutrisno was wrong. It’s kind of a new power for them.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:25:52] With this newfound confidence, the farmers worked with Semarang Legal Aid to help develop a strategy to fight for a certificate to reclaim rights to the land, made up of two organizing tactics. First, to map the agrarian conflicts throughout Central Java. This would help link the struggles and create connections for peer learning among communities. Once they mapped all the communities, they were able to consolidate community power and form the Provincewide Central Java Farmers Organization.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:26:25] I remember that at that time, the farmers not only fight for their own case, for their own rights, they escalate the struggle not only for the land rights, but also push the government to change the agrarian system. The agrarian law. Yeah, this kind of consolidation, it’s kind of escalate consolidation and it gives more power to the local. It’s kind of like a cycle, I think. In the one side they try to connect because they are feel not strong enough. But when they’re connected to other, actually the effect is strengthening them.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:27:16] The second tactic took the form of direct action demonstrations or protest. The farmers strength was their people power, their ability to organize. But they were missing a key ingredient.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:27:29] They already have the people power by the consolidation of farmers’ organization. They have a good knowledge how to do the movement. They also realize about their basis rights, about the lands- it’s a historical basis. But then, they should know how the law itself work. So our Semarang local chapter fill that gap. So we give legal empowerment to them. At the same time, some of the farmers being criminalized. At that situation- critical situation- our lawyers play an important role to give them legal assistance. Not in the core cases of the land cases, but in other cases of criminal case. We taught them how the criminal law worked on this case, not only the land reform law or agrarian law work on this case, but also the criminal or penal code, how it works in building successful social movement or people movements. It cannot only works in one sphere, like only the people power, but the legal power also can complete the movement, or the power, to fight for the rights of the people.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:29:06] Years passed as the farmers worked with Semarang Legal Aid. The case ended up going to the administrative court system, where Semarang Legal Aid had to take a role in assisting the farmers as well. But finally, in 2021…
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:29:20] Finally the Supreme Court they said that the National Land Agency was right and the land finally can be redistributed to the farmers in 2021.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:29:33] Today, with support from the Grassroots Justice Network, YLBI is taking their experience of combining the power of law and the power of people in the struggle of the Bandungan farmers and finding ways to apply that model to other struggles for justice.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:29:49] During this three years of participatory action research, actually our local chapter in- not only in Semarang- what we are talking about is the strengthening of Semarang or Central Java Farmers Organization. But nowadays they are escalating the consolidation to other provincial level in East Java. So they are still in the progress of fighting to change the agrarian law this time.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:30:22] YLBHI’s efforts to continue building a just and democratic Indonesia go beyond the regional level. Nationally, they are finding common ground between different struggles for justice – students, labor, farmers, fisher people – and they’re advancing the movement by building what they call the People’s Tribunal.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:30:45] So these kind of People’s Tribunal, we are trying to just to facilitate the space for them to meet each other, to learn from each other. But the most important thing: to build their own case to sue the government, to sue the state. So that’s what we are doing in this People’s Tribunal. We want to consolidate the community power, the people power. But in other side, we also want to establish the new mechanism of democracy actually.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:31:24] At the moment, Indonesia doesn’t have a constitutional complaint mechanism in their court system. What this means is that there is no way for a person to submit a complaint to the state to argue that their fundamental rights have been violated by a state authority, say the police. The People’s Tribunal would help to change that.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:31:44] For me, it feels like success when the community understand their rights and they’re decided what to do. I think that’s the success for me. Yeah. That’s simple, because- and they keep fighting for their rights. They’re not stop. Even if the legal system not giving them the good feedback or the good result, but they keep moving. Or, it feels like success when the community can cross beyond borders to support the wider movement.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:32:23] YLBHI has learned that building community power is the key to changing law in Indonesia and successfully building a stronger democracy.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:32:32] First of all, we used to legal empowerment, we organized the people so they know the law, they can use the law. And on the other side, we also cannot hide from the legal action. We use that as a strategic litigation. If the farmers have been criminalized, then the legal action should be taken.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:32:52] YLBHI believes that law and organizing must go hand in hand and that institutions can help cement incremental wins into place. People can drop in and out of a movement, but institutions provide a structure that can sustain movements in the long term. And while that is true, they are also grappling with the complexity of institution building and the risk of losing sight of what’s at the heart of the struggle.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:33:18] We must be really careful so that the organization or the organization formed, does not fall into rigid institutionalization, because it can eliminate the movement itself. So it sounds like paradox. The movement of the farmers’ really radical. But when they fall into the institutionalization, the rigid of institutionalization, it kinds of make them forget what is the core basis of the organization- of [what] the community struggling for. Its kind of status quo, you know, the status quo of the movement.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:33:58] Although Indonesia has moved on in some ways from the days of Suharto’s New Order regime, it is still an uphill battle to build democratic systems that ensure public participation.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:34:11] Right now, the other type of New Order is already here, where our government, the previous period- 2014, Joko Widodo also the regime. Also they practice the same model of New Order, even worse, because they reject public participation in making law; there are some laws that contradict with human rights. And also it is not based on the people’s need. Instead, this is on the need of the model of investment. So they are trying- they try to attract many investors into Indonesia- come to Indonesia. And they publish so many regulations, like law on job creation bill, or on mineral and coal mining and many other laws that put people in the bottom. Violation, criminalization. Also, killing happens everywhere against public defender. So we see that expression- a public expression through gathering demonstrations. So we see that the decline of the democracy still ongoing until then.
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:35:33] There’s also the question of what happens as a younger generation comes into the picture and what that looks like for the future of community power in Indonesia.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:35:44] I see that this is someplace worrying because, not only in Bandungan, but also in other cases, that the youth mostly they don’t want to become a farmer. And if they don’t want to become a farmer who is the next to continue their fight, to continue their struggle for the land? I also see from maybe from YLBHI this is the big challenge. If we fail to transfer our knowledge from us to our junior, how it will become?
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:36:22] As new generations come up, movements must find ways to evolve and change, all while ensuring that people are continuing to absorb and carry on the knowledge that has been passed down. And after more than 20 years of fighting, although the farmers of Bandungan have the rights to their land now, farmers across Indonesia are still struggling to reclaim what was lost more than 60 years ago. To Rakhma, it is like the Indonesian recipe of Rendang.
Rakhma Mary Herwati, YLBHI [00:36:52] And this is I describe how the community organizations do legal empowerment, how advocacy that conducted by YLBHI can also involve of their farmers and also community look like. So, if we seriously put all of the ingredients, they have critical awareness already with different degrees- the law awareness, the critical awareness and then maybe you can also advance how we can we manage all of these three to be together: how can we put the leader of the community to be a leader and how we as a facilitator have full knowledge, some also skill, information, good communication and many things. And at last we will get a very very delicious Rendang.
Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI [00:37:42] So, I mean, like maybe we don’t eat the dishes. We don’t- In our generation, maybe we don’t see the result, but we can see when in another time, in another generation, they can feel the result of our struggle. So it’s a kind of marathon run. You need a long energy and a long endurance and resilience. So make sure you can also have a power to eat the dishes so you can continue the delicious and the nutritious dishes. I think that’s from me. Thank you. [Laughs]
Poorvi Chitalkar, Host [00:38:42] This episode was produced by me, Poorvi Chitalkar. Our managing producer is Jackie Sofia. Audio Engineering and Sound Design by Mohamad Khreizat. Editorial Support by the Namati Communications Team. Additional support by Anuradha Joshi and Marlon Manuel. A very special thanks to Pratiwi Febry and Sitti Rakhma Mary Herwati and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation for sharing their story with us. Thanks also to Canada’s International Development Research Centre, whose support makes this work possible. A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes of Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. To join the network, head to www.grassrootsjusticenetwork.org and follow us on social media on YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, at GrassrootsJN.