Armin Salasa

Armin Salasa is developing teams of community volunteers to help empower people at the grassroots level to build the first tier of civil society in areas where, after three decades of suppression, it no longer exists or functions. His aim is to help communities identify and analyze their problems so that they can resolve disputes peacefully before they lead to violence or unrest.

Armin is strengthening and developing the citizen sector in order to give people the ability to understand the problems which confront them and, as a community, to search for solutions in a creative and critical manner. Armin not only develops and establishes multilevel and multisector community organizations in both rural and urban areas, but also facilitates networking among those organizations to link rural and urban inhabitants. Through these citizen-based organizations (CBOs), Armin initiates the development of sustainable systems through which communities can solve their own problems, and simultaneously he improves the community's bargaining position in relation to those government officials and business people who have repeatedly marginalized them.
Armin fosters a spirit of volunteerism among community members at the district level, especially among the key people (CBO leaders) who possess potential to influence social change. At the same time, he also works to improve the community's capability to learn together, to create synergy, and to strengthen one another. With his vision of establishing CBOs throughout Sulawesi and other parts of Indonesia, Armin has started to disseminate his initiatives through opportunities and activities in various provinces, particularly by training volunteers as "barefoot community organizers" to assist him.

For 32 years, in an organized and systematic way, the Suharto regime allowed government officials and powerful business people to acquire Indonesia's assets. When combined with the repression of civic participation and freedom of expression endemic to the period, this marginalization of local communities has led to a wide range of conflicts within Indonesian society, ranging from the inability to resolve disputes peacefully at the local level to separatist movements and ethnic-religious unrest. However, even after the overthrow of Suharto and the beginning of the reform movement in 1998, there remains a dangerous lack of both neutral facilitators able to promote a collective social conscience at all levels and resolution systems through which disagreements can be resolved peacefully. For example, the government continues to respond to conflicts by increasing military presence in trouble areas, often escalating violence further. Meanwhile, NGO (and campus) activists in Indonesia have for years fought on behalf of the interests of local populations, yet many grassroots communities have not had the opportunity to develop an appropriate capacity because they have not been empowered or significantly strengthened in the process. As a result, latent tensions have given way to explosive reactions and violence, creating a cycle of instability that threatens the lives and livelihoods of people in both rural and urban areas.
The problems faced by the eastern Indonesian region of Sulawesi illustrate the challenges facing many areas of the country. A strategic region of five provinces and 45 districts whose many cultures, religions, and subethnic groups have been a potential and real source of conflict, Sulawesi is viewed as a barometer of development for other regions. Some parts of Sulawesi, like the district of Bulukumba, continue to suffer prolonged conflicts with large numbers of victims surrounding issues like land confiscation, seizures of customary rights, retribution, and others. Because the approximately 357,500 people in Bulukumba are far from key resources like education, information, communication, and transportation, they have long remained alienated from the development process in Indonesia. While in areas with well-developed civil societies people know who to contact when problems arise or when public services do not function as promised, in remote areas like Bulukumba–where until recently few community organizations existed–the only available response has been frustration. Brawls and homicides take place without any serious attempts to settle the problems lawfully or through peaceful means. Without having channels to solve social problems and networks to unite communities to increase their bargaining power, those in powerful positions often pit communities against each other, utilizing or exaggerating existing tensions for short-term political or economic gain.

Armin establishes contact persons in all strategic sectors and areas, both urban and rural. Through these contact persons, he identifies local figures with potential to become community organizers, and conducts training activities to prepare them to serve as leaders and facilitators. When leaders are ready, Armin and his well-trained volunteers promote the establishment of CBOs by facilitating the process of raising community awareness and initiating discussions on topical and relevant issues ranging from decentralization and corruption to democratization and forest devastation. Once CBOs are formed, Armin builds solidarity among them by encouraging regular cross-visits, facilitating learning and support among members, and building links from the subdistrict to the districtwide level. To overcome resource challenges–particularly lack of the funding and dependency on outside sources–Armin establishes a sense of camaraderie among organizers who, given their understanding of the benefits of this work to their communities, are strongly motivated to volunteer their time. At the same time, Armin strives to connect CBOs with various key resources and helps them acquire and maintain access to information.
Since initiating this process in the district of Bulukumba in 2000, 22 strong CBOs have been established in 8 of 10 subdistricts. These CBOs include groups of farmers, fishing communities, women's groups, police monitors, information centers, and other activities considered necessary by the communities. Having already prepared a group of organizers through a period of training and apprenticeship to replicate his approach, Armin has begun laying the groundwork for spreading his work to other districts and provinces in Sulawesi.

Armin grew up in a family that respected honesty, justice, humanity, and solidarity. From his father, he developed an understanding of philosophical teachings and from his mother, he learned about the meaning of spirit, hard-work, discipline, and fighting against injustice. Because the family moved often for his father's work, Armin learned how to adapt to various environments.
In response to the wishes of both parents to continue his education outside of Bulukumba, Armin studied at university in Palu District. On campus, he entered the world of student activism opposed to the Suharto regime. Not long after, the government and armed forces forcibly suppressed this movement, and many activists throughout Indonesia were arrested and killed in the process. Even though many of his friends chose to stay in the background during that time for the sake of their own security, Armin remained in Palu and continued his activism and was consequently arrested and imprisoned.
Besides being a campus activist, Armin started to develop NGOs in Palu dealing with issues like land disputes and enforceable eviction of communities from their lands. When many young activists, including university students and NGO workers, emerged from these activities, Armin decided to discontinue his studies and focus on his work with communities in and around Palu. After about 10 years of immersion in student activism and NGO efforts, the fall of Suharto led Armin to undertake a period of reflection. He realized that the only way to maintain a movement is to develop a strong and organized community base that is not dependent upon student activists or NGOs. His mother often reminded him of the problems faced in the Bulukumba region, so he decided to return and try out his new ideas, while still maintaining his relationships in Palu and other areas.
Recognized by Father Danu (one of the founding fathers of Indonesia's CBO movement) for both his success in developing community-based organizations and his innovative methods, Armin was invited to share his experiences at a workshop in Yogyakarta in 2002.