The Enggano an island people of Indonesia in search of recognition

Authors: Marcus Colchester, Patrick Anderson, Pramasti Ayu Kusdinar, Erwin Basrin, Warman Kudus, Adam Kurniawan Kauno, Hariman Kauno, Adul Jalil and Eleanor Fithen

Enggano Island off the west coast of Sumatra is inhabited by the Enggano people who are seeking to reassert control of their island and their own destiny. This report on their situation and aspirations results from two years of support work with the Enggano by the Bengkulu-based Akar Foundation and the UK-based international human rights organisation, the Forest Peoples Programme, and derives from the direct testimony of the Enggano and a desk survey of the available literature.

Read the full report in English and Bahasa Indonesia

 

This report is based on the Akar Foundation’s first two-years of engagement with the Enggano people and on a short field visit made by Forest Peoples Programme staff, Marcus Colchester and Patrick Anderson, along with colleagues from the Akar Foundation, Pramasty Ayu Koesdinar and Warman Kudus, and volunteer, Eleanor Fithen, in July 2024. As part of its work in support of the Enggano, the Akar Foundation has recruited 3 local residents, Adam Kurniawan Kauno, Hariman Kauno and Adul Jalil, as Community Organisers (CO). These CO facilitated all the meetings we held with local spokespersons and shared the information they have consolidated over the previous months. The collaborative report also draws on all the available sources we have been able to identify through web-based and library research which reference the Enggano and which are listed in the endnotes.

Information was collected during three days of ‘focus group discussions’ and a one-day long, larger community workshop. The result is no more than an initial snapshot of the Enggano, their current situation and their aspirations for the future. However, the text has been checked by the Enggano and the CO for accuracy and so represents an attempt to present a consultation-based summary of the Enggano’s situation.