Another promising example is in Rogdog, South Siberut, where the village head is reviving the traditional council so that representatives of various clans can plan future development work together, take collective decisions and represent community interests to local government, companies and other outsiders. Pak Selester is also an enthusiastic advocate of participatory mapping to help Siberut communities hold onto their customary lands. The intention is to hold the next meeting on Siberut so that more indigenous people have chance to participate. The Land Grant College scheme was one of former forestry minister Muslimin Nasution's innovations. Since 1999, Islamic schools, universities and other higher education institutions have been able to apply for logging concessions.
History is about to repeat itself in Indonesia.
Local people only discovered the plans when Mentawai students and local NGO staff attended a meeting at the university in November. By that stage the university had agreed to operate the concession with PT Sinar Minang Sejahtera, a timber company from the West Sumatran mainland and had submitted an environmental impact assessment to the Forestry Department in Jakarta. It was revealed that the university had been offered a 'Land Grant College' concession on the mainland, but rejected this as the area consisted of logged-over forest. The rector of the university and the head of its Environmental Study Centre tried to defend themselves by saying that the scheme is at an early stage and they are only just starting to 'socialise' it. They stressed that the university would only be managing the forest and would have no ownership rights a fine distinction once the commercial valuable timber has been extracted.