By Kunarto Marzuki, researcher at the Institute for Research and Applications Discourse (LPAW)
Siti Nur Chanifah, a parliamentarian from Indonesia's oil-rich Blora District, lives in the center of Cepu, an "oil town" in the easternmost corner of Central Java Province. The area has been used a base for oil production base since 1918 when Dutch geologist Andriap Stoop first discovered oil reserves here.
Cepu's nickname,"Oil City" leads most people to assume the town is rich or that kerosene, petrol and diesel oil are cheaper there than elsewhere in Indonesia, says Chanifah. "When I go outside my region," she says, "always people tell me that my region is wealthy and everyone is jealous of us living in Cepu."
The realities of daily life are different. Blora's per-capita income in 2010 was only 3.9 million rupiah (less than $430 USD), far below the neighboring Kudus District's 24 million rupiah. Access to education is low and recent data from the Central Statistics Agency shows that only 28 percent of Blora's population makes it past primary school.
These statistics are part of the reason Chanifah is seeking to improve how oil and gas funds from the Cepu Block are handled—to help assure they can fund social development in areas like health and education. "All that can be achieved if the management of the funds is transparent," she says.
Chanifah works by day and by night she assists students in memorizing the Koran. As a "Hafidzoh," she can recite the text from memory herself. Her work in religious communities is one of the ways she introduces transparency principles to diverse groups. She is also the former chairwoman of the Fayatat NU of Cepu, an organization representing remote villages, and she makes monthly visits to women in the communities around Cepu. Poor villages often have little access to information about the oil and gas sector, so she often disseminates reading materials and holds discussions on transparency and the importance of public participation.
Because of Chanifah's connections with numerous social groups, her political party, the National Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa, or PKB) made her the chair of its faction in Blora's regional parliament. Her leadership among the five other party MPs, who are male, is an anomaly in Java's traditionalist Muslim community.
As chair of her faction and a member of the district's budgeting group, Chanifah must be conversant in a range of governance, development planning and district budgeting issues, and, like most politicians, she could benefit from greater knowledge of oil and mining issues. Chanifah attended a number of forums conducted by the Institute for Research and Discourse Application (LPAW), a Blora nonprofit research group and Revenue Watch partner. LPAW focuses on the impact of oil and gas production in local communities, holding group discussions and workshops concerning transparency and sustainable development.
LPAW has also advised Chanifah in her response to the district government's sustainable development work plan. Chanifah has solicited recommendations from local communities in order to improve the mid-term planning process. "Though I've often hear the term 'Cepu Oil City,' I frankly did not know how the oil is produced, what the shares would be for the district and the national levels, or how the oil funds would be managed," says Chanifah. After three years working with LPAW, Chanifah says she has a new understanding of the planning required to allocate oil revenues for the community's shared benefit. She says she will be pushing "for the use of oil and gas revenue in the development of local potentials."
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