Den Upa Rombelayuk

In Toraja, Indonesia, Den Upa is including women in traditionally male dominated decision-making forums, a first step toward full civic participation of women in indigenous communities.

Women in Indonesia have been largely excluded from the decision-making processes that run their lives and determine the direction of Indonesian society. Both at home and in public life, their rights, aspirations, and opinions are subordinate to those of men. Currently, most strategies for women’s empowerment focus on helping women earn income, raising awareness about domestic violence, or encouraging women to join advocacy groups largely composed of women. While these strategies help women gain confidence and learn skills, they do not help women gain an active and equal role in community decision-making, where men still dominate.
Den Upa is reviving the Kombangan, a traditional Indonesian community decision-making forum, and using it as a tool for women’s equality. By arguing that women’s increasingly visible role in society deserves an equally visible part in deciding social policy, Den Upa has won women a spot in this traditionally male-dominated forum. Den Upa believes that changing the role of women in the Kombangan is a step towards creating a truly democratic form of governance.

Indonesia is a culture based upon patriarchal, feudal traditions. Attitudes toward women have changed little in modern times; in the recent past, the country’s Soeharto New Order regime restricted women to domestic, supporting roles. Although some traditional communities pay lip service to the idea of women’s participation, behaviors and the systems that shape them have been slow to change. On the one hand, men, of course, are reluctant to relinquish some of their control to women. However, another barrier to female empowerment is that, after centuries of subjugation, women lack the skills and self-confidence to speak out and take leadership positions in public forums.
Before the Soeharto regime imposed a centralized authoritarian government, many indigenous Indonesian cultures had their own local systems of conflict resolution, the Kombangan. The Kombangan fell into disuse with the rise of the Soeharto regime, and have been abandoned for almost 30 years. Indonesia is now in the middle of a move to decentralize power, so there is much interest in reestablishing traditional forums of conflict resolution. However, even before Soeharto, the Kombangan remained a male-only forum, so it is unlikely that this change will give women any voice.

In the Toraja region, Den Upa introduced new, traditionally male-dominated activities, like agroforestry and agricultural cash crop production, into familiar women’s organizations to help women develop economic and social skills.
Seeing that women were rarely active in public discussions, Den Upa felt that a reinvention of the traditional conflict resolution mechanism known as Kombangan could bring women into the decision-making process.
Den Upa began the lobbying informal community leaders in all six subregions of her village area to hold a Kombangan Kuala, or large Kombangan, which would include women. This was the first Kombangan to be held since the mid 70’s, and the first to involve women. However, male villagers at first balked at the idea of including women in the discussion. Den Upa argued for allowing women to participate by pointing to the income-generating activities that Den Upa had introduced into women’s organizations, showing that women were now active in many areas outside of the domestic sphere and thus deserving of some say in village policy. Finally, the village men agreed to her idea.
At first, the women tended to be passive observers, but today women are active participants in regularly held Kombangan. Over time, women gain the confidence to speak out and even assume leadership positions in the forums. As a result, women are taking up positions of power and prestige as they never have before: a woman has become the leader of a network of church congregations and others are now taking positions in the local government system. The Kombangan has thus become an inclusive democratic forum giving women an equal and active voice.
In the late 1990s, Den Upa became one of the leaders behind the formation of AMAN, the National Alliance of Indigenous People. Using this position, she spread the success of the new Kombangan throughout the country. Within Toraja, the new Kombangan are being actively used in 32 communities, whereas six other ethnic groups in Sulawesi have adapted it for their communities. Currently, an additional six ethnic groups outside of Sulawesi are ready to adopt Kombangan in the coming months. Both locally in their villages, and at the national level in AMAN, women are actively participating and taking leadership roles.
Den Upa also has established a vibrant national network of indigenous peoples across Indonesia. Members from other regions regularly visit Den Upa’s base in Toraja to observe her work, and learn about how to adapt the new Kombangan for their own communities. Den Upa works with other indigenous groups that also have traditional forums, convincing them to include women as equal participants.

Den Upa was born and raised in a traditional village community in Tanah Toraja, South Sulawesi. From a young age, she was interested in social work, and her parents encouraged her to be a leader in scouts and church youth groups. She continued these activities even after she left for university in Central Java. She trained to be a teacher, but turmoil following the attempted coup and abolition of the Communist Party in Java in 1996 forced her to return home.
Earlier, in the early 1980s, Den Upa became president of a leading women’s organization in both her own and a neighboring village. While these organizations previously concentrated on the domestic role of women (nutrition courses, cooking and beauty competitions), Den Upa shifted their focus to stimulating income-generating and mutual aid activities. Den Upa also became a leader in a church organization and network of church women throughout her region.
After years of service to her community as a leader of women’s groups and church organizations, Den Upa was elected village leader of Nanggala, her birthplace, in 1992.
Den Upa realized that for women to be empowered, they needed more than economic success stories and women’s solidarity groups. They need to be accepted as full citizens and included in the forums which hold power over their lives in society. Den Upa saw the Kombangan as a forum with the potential to unite the community and resolve conflicts, but she knew that it had to involve all citizens, including women, if it were to be successful.