Tin Mining and The Marginalized Coastal Resource Dependent Communities in West Indonesia

This study brings unique findings by presenting a careful and details analysis of the local governance institutional arrangements in the context of coastal tin extraction on Bangka Island. It specifically compares the governance mechanism issues across two distinct coastal tin producing settings and two different community contexts. Using multiple case study design, this study successfully depicts that for the most part, the decision-making mechanism deployed in the issuance of mining social permits did little to address the primary concerns of all related actors fairly and frequently, privileging the interest of mining companies while marginalizing the alternative values and the concerns of affected locals. Public involvement failed to accommodate all stakeholders’ views, but the local level cannot accommodate their interests because some local political situation and elites’ domination effect have control over the decision-making process for mining permits. Both economic and local socio-political factors influenced the local community’s acceptance of suction dredging. The compensation offered provided a compelling reason for agreeing to permit the mining licence. Resource depletion and deterioration, a reduction in the quantity and price of fish, and difficulties associated with finding alternative livelihoods were key reasons for opposing suction dredging. Immature democratic processes occur when decisions are made without fully consulting all stakeholders, or fully considering the whole village’s views, leading to the spawn of grey participation and consequently bringing an imbalance in terms of benefits and impacts among affected locals. The result is unsuccessful democratization that will possibly lead to a rebellion by unsatisfied stakeholders.