Componentes de un equipo de riego por goteo

The original arisan in Indonesia is a local association composed of members of a community who meet regularly and contribute a fixed amount of money to fund the interest of the group or the individual, thereby personifying the spirit of gotong royong. The term gotong royong is rooted in the Javanese culture, which has been made popular by the political leaders of the country since the Revolution. Sarwono (1993) points out that gotong royong refers to social interaction based on reciprocity among members of a family or a community. It can occur spontaneously or it can be organised in the context of various events in family life or in larger community groups, as a expression of concern about other people.

As Kartohadikoesomo (1984) notes, in the rural areas or villages of the Surabaya and

Pasuruan regions in East Java, the arisan association has rules and set purposes, with a view to pay for work which had been carried out, to assist in alleviating the burden of a group of people or of an individual, who have to pay for expenses of life-cycle celebrations such as circumcision, marriage or death in the family. Besides relieving the financial burden of these commitments, it is frequently used by village authorities as a means to mobilise the villagers to carry out government programmes, especially those designed to improve conditions in the village.

In addition, Geertz (1983) draws attention to the importance of gotong royong in Indonesian life and includes an extensive list of highly specific, often rather complex institutions for achieving cooperation in work, politics and personal relations, all rather vaguely gathered under culturally based and quite indefinite representations such as rukun

(mutual adjustment), gotong royong (community self-help or mutual cooperation) and tolong menolong (reciprocal assistance) which indicates social interaction with a superior force. Meanwhile, Hahn (1999) notes that people show respect for those who place commitment to general village welfare above personal gain. By consequence, the spirit of gotong royong or volunteerism is promoted as a cultural value. Perhaps nowadays, as the political economy becomes more privatized, capitalistic and individualistic gotong royong has lost some of its force.

Earlier, Koentjaraningrat (1961) stated, that gotong royong was one of the socio-cultural ethics of Indonesia and could be considered to correspond to generalized reciprocity which is one aspect of social capitalism. Initially, this ethic seems to have developed from the cooperative method of working essential to wet rice production in Java. In his work, Bowen (1986) distinguishes three generalized types of gotong royong which can be found in both rural and urban areas in Indonesia as follows:

- gotong royong ‘labour mobilised for direct exchange’,

- gotong royong ‘labour mobilised on the basis of subordinate political status’ or more commonly referred to as padat karya (intensive work programmes), and

- kerja bakti (voluntary labour).

Werner (1998) stresses that gotong royong is an important aspect of village life in Indonesia and is a collective action which encompasses community-organised activities such as building and maintaining the infrastructure such as roads and bridges, community buildings and water supply systems as well as providing related public services.

Since Independence, this ethic of gotong royong has been used by various Indonesian governments to promote their national development programmes. In its efforts, it concentrated especially on two types of gotong royong: gotong royong ‘labour mobilised for direct exchange’ and gotong royong ‘labour mobilised on the basis of subordinate political status’ or padat karya (intensive work programmes) and kerja bakti (‘voluntary’ labour) in Indonesia. Koentjaraningrat (1996) claims, that generalised reciprocity, which is the third type of gotong royong, still survives as a strong social norm in Indonesia.

6.2.2 The Concept of Berdikari

As Slikkerveer and Slikkerveer (1995) describe, the changing values and attitudes towards traditional pharmaceuticals after Independence has encouraged an orientation towards and trust in their own culture among various groups in the population. Since modern medicines became costly, rural people returned to rely increasingly on the easily accessible, relatively cheap herbal medicines, found in their own familiar environment, which they use in general for health maintenance and the preparation of home-remedies.

Hence, the use of traditional herbal medicine derived from plants from their own surroundings is widely adopted and has evolved into a renewed cooperative movement which turned to the cultivation of medicinal herbs and plants largely for private use. It soon became a community activity at the grassroots level since it is easily built into the social system of

gotong royong which has then been reintroduced by the former President Soekarno. Women particularly were very happy to participate in this active form of self-reliance or berdikari in family health, which is initially referred to as ‘Apotik Hidup’ or a ‘Living Pharmacy’. Given this situation, it is not surprising that in the course of the 1970s, ‘Apotik Hidup’ has already enthusiastically been adopted in the early development stages of the Pemberdayaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga (PKK) (Family Welfare Empowerment). This programme began as a co- operative movement consisting of a local self-help activity movement among village women of Java. Later it was extended to other communities and urban neighbourhoods throughout the country (cf. Slikkerveer & Slikkerveer 1995).

At the beginning of the 1980s, when the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended each Member State of the United Nations to explore and utilise its natural medicinal resources in its Global Strategy for Health for All by the Year 2000 (1981), the Government of Indonesia decided to implement and formally support the cultivation and use of indigenous medicinal plants and herbs in its efforts to increase the self-reliance or berdikari

of communities, particularly those in the rural areas. Subsequently, the concept of Apotik Hidup of PKK is institutionalized in all villages and the name is changed to Taman Obat Keluarga (TOGA) or ‘Family Medicinal Garden’, an important pillar of the national policy of self-reliance in health and related areas of food, nutrition and environmental conservation (cf.

TOGA 1983; Sutrisno 1984; Esche 1987).

Slikkerveer & Slikkerveer (1995) point out that this policy of self-reliance in health is based on the general concept of berdiri atas kaki sendiri (BERDIKARI), the motto of ‘standing on one’s own feet’, which had characterized the development philosophy of the country since Independence. As the Declaration of Alma Ata of WHO/UNICEF (1978: 79) stresses in particular the self-reliance of communities and national authorities in Primary Health Care (PHC), initiatives were launched to encourage the population to assume responsibility for its own health.

The concept sets the parameters of the extent to which individuals are able to maintain their own health and solve their own medical problems using the available resources.

The revival of indigenous knowledge and the practice of traditional herbal medicine presented a suitable ‘vehicle’ for the implementation of the concept of self-reliance in health promotion and care throughout Indonesia, supported by Non-Governmental Organisations and community-based voluntary groups, associations and co-operatives. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the primary interest of the government in the promotion of herbal medicine has generally been focused on future self-reliance in the production of medicines, as part of the Primary Health Care delivery system.

Figure 6.2 Scheme of the six activities of TOGA (translated) (Source: TOGA Report 1981)

6.3

Taman Obat Keluarga (TOGA), Garden for MAC Plants