Indigenous (masyarakat adat/pribumi) peoples

by Richard Sidaway

'We do not inherit (mewarisi) the earth from our ancestors (leluhur), we borrow it from our children’ (Native
American proverb)

In December 2005, Evo Morales became the new President of Bolivia. He was only 46 years old and openly
supported(didukung) the production and use of the coca plant. He also wanted the state to take control of the
profitable (menguntungkan) natural gas industry. But what was really significant was where he came from. He
was born into a farming family in the Andes and spent much his life campaigning(mengkampanyekan) for the
interests of the original inhabitants (penduduk) of the country. He was one of the first leaders of an indigenous
people to make it to the top.

There are perhaps 370 million indigenous peoples in 70 countries around the world. They live on 20% of the
world’s land, and they contribute(menyumbang) 80% of the world’s biological and cultural
diversity(keanekaragaman). For the last few hundred years, however, European colonialism has
marginalized(menyisihkan) them. Europeans gave them diseases against which they had no defences,
suppressed(end with force red. ditekan) their culture and language, and tried to assimilate (membaurkan) them
into western societies.

Sometimes they almost disappeared from history. Few people today have heard of the Herero of
Namibia. Eighty per cent of their population died from starvation(kelaparan) a century ago at the hands of
German colonisers. In 1803, there were 10,000 people living in Tasmania, but after the British
declared(mengumumkan) war on them twenty years later, only 300 survived. The last Tasman died in 1905.

The main reason for the decimation(kill large number=penipisan) of indigenous peoples has been to get their
land and natural resources. In Colombia, a hundred years of oil extraction(ekstraksi) has resulted in the
pollution of rivers, soil and drinking water. The story is repeated in Ecuador and Peru. In Brazil, the government
plan to build five large dams (bendungan) on the Xingu River. These will flood (banjir) thousands of square
kilometres of tribal(suku) reserves(cadangan) and destroy much agricultural land.

Often governments have used forced relocation to get the local inhabitants(penduduk) out of the way. In
Botswana today it is happening because of diamond mining(penambangan) and tourism. In the islands of Diego
Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, the entire(seluruh) population were banished(terusir) forever in order to build an
airbase (pangkalan udara).

Land has a spiritual significance(kepentingan/makna) for indigenous people. In 1985 the Australian government
finally recognised (mengakui) this and returned ownership (kepemilikan) of Uluru (Ayers Rock) to the
Pitjantjatjara Aborigines. In the USA, however, the government is planning to store radioactive waste (sisa) at
Yucca Mountain in Nevada, although it is a sacred site (situs keramat/suci) for the Shoshone nation.

Businesses often try to take possession(kepemilikan) of indigenous cultures. Multinational companies wanted to
become the owners of traditional knowledge in areas such as food, farming and health. They have tried to create
patents(hak paten) on plants and medicines that indigenous people have used for centuries.

Native languages are also disappearing. They were banned(dilarang) in schools for decades (dekade). Parents
stopped using them to communicate in the home, and so they were no longer passed from one generation to
another.

Sometimes families have been affected in more dramatic ways. In Australia, it was government policy from
1900-1972 to forcibly (dengan paksa) remove aboriginal children from their parents and bring them up in
institutions.

Health problems such as obesity(obesitas/kegemukan), heart disease and diabetes are another feature of
indigenous life. The writer Paul Theroux, travelling in the Pacific, noted that most islanders’(penghuni pulau)
diets nowadays consisted of junk food and canned(kalengan) fish imported from Japan thousands of miles away
- despite the fact that they were surrounded by water, and fishing had been a way of life for millennia (beribu-
ribu tahun).

So is the election of Mr Morales, in one of the world’s poorest countries, a sign (tanda) that things are finally
getting better? Various peoples around the world now have their own representation (symbol). There is a Sámi
parliament in Sweden and an Assembly (Majelis) of First Nations in Canada.

Formal Apologies (permintaan maaf) were passed in several Australian State Parliaments in 1998 for the past
mistreatment (penganiayaan) of the Aboriginal population. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Treaty (perjanjian) of
Waitangi Act has made it possible for Maoris to claim back land, fisheries (perikanan) and forest in special
courts where they have equal representation with non-indigenous people. The Miskito Indians in Nicaragua
have had similar(serupa) success.

Some Native American Tribes have recently become extremely wealthy (kaya) because of a change in the law.
They can now start casinos (gaming night club) on their own land. Some people worry about the
morality(standar sosial) of this, but some of the profit has been used for improvements in education and health.

The meeting between western and indigenous cultures has not often been a happy one, but perhaps (mungkin)
there is hope yet for the continued diversity of humankind (manusia/kemanusiaan).

- See more at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/magazine-articles/indigenous-

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