The year of 2019 is the fourth year of PEREMPUAN AMAN to organize RAKERNAS (Rapat Kerja Nasional—National Work Meeting). The fourth RAKERNAS was held in three days, 8-10 April 2019 in Face Hotel Padjajaran, Bogor. The fourth RAKERNAS was arranged based on article 27 in Statuta regarding RAKERNAS.
The theme of The Fourth RAKERNAS of PEREMPUAN AMAN was Strengthening Political Participation of the Indigenous Women Through PEREMPUAN AMAN’s Organizing Territories.
RAKERNAS is a forum for the decision-making mechanism of PEREMPUAN AMAN. The annual gathering aims to organize, formulate, and determine the strategic policies in terms of Organization, Programs, and Recommendations, which further reflects the sovereign aspirations of PEREMPUAN AMAN members.
The traditional ritual from Central Sulawesi, Mepamongoka, opened the activities of the fourth RAKERNAS. The ceremony was led by Kartini Penyami, Chief of PHD (Local Chapter) PEREMPUAN AMAN Pamona, Central Sulawesi, and Geria Pesudo and Yulina Siape. Both Geria and Yulina share the same title as Kartini, only that Geria is from Ondae while Yulia is from Lamusa.
The essence of this ritual is to welcome guests. It usually the first thing that starts before a conversation between the guests and the hosts held. After the ceremony ended, the guests are then allowed to speak to deliver their needs. The next session started by the report of Chief Executive, Yuyun Kurniasih, and the welcome speech from PEREMPUAN AMAN National Council of Sumatera Region, Meiliana Yumi, and Secretary-General of AMAN, Rukka Sombolinggi.
Meiliana Yumi encouraged the participants of the fourth RAKERNAS. “PEREMPUAN AMAN is a place for us to study how to organize and how to implement it in our communities. We, for sure, hope PEREMPUAN AMAN to strengthen the solidarity bond among Indigenous Women of the Archipelago,” she said.
The Leader of the Permanent Assembly is Riana Simamora, Chief of PHKom in Tanjung Gusta, North Sumatera. Lusrina, Chief of PHKom in Tandukalua, West Sulawesi, was elected as the Vice President. The secretary of the Assembly is Nofriyani Konofo, Chief of PHKom in Makelega, North Halmahera, North Maluku.
The Decisions in The Fourth RAKERNAS of PEREMPUAN AMAN 2019
The Fourth RAKERNAS of PEREMPUAN AMAN has settled some decisions, among others is the decision to settle a location for The Third National Gathering of PEREMPUAN AMAN in Jakarta. Other decisions were summed after receiving progress reports of the organization by the President of PEREMPUAN AMAN 2015-2018 and receiving observation reports of the National Council of PEREMPUAN AMAN in 2018 period.
As for the Interim Replacement of the National Council of PEREMPUAN AMAN in Bali-Nusa Tenggara Region, the decision was to elect Zuhroni. Siti Badriah Fadel was chosen to serve as an Interim Replacement in Maluku Islands Region.
There are 418 new members of PEREMPUAN AMAN, who have officially joined the organization on The Fourth RAKERNAS. At the moment, the members of the organizations are 1974 indigenous women all over the archipelago. The Organizing Territories are also growing. There are eight new Organizing Territories; Lage, Pu’umboto, Sassa, Morodina, Morodai, Pasitabe, Montong Baan, and Mayuasa. In total, PEREMPUAN AMAN now has 45 Organizing Territories.
As many as 60 participants attended The Fourth RAKERNAS of PEREMPUAN AMAN. There were two categories of participants which were full participants and reviewers. Full participants consisted of President of PEREMPUAN AMAN, 30 delegates of PHW, PHD, and PHKom, as well as Regional National Council of Sumatera, Borneo, and Sulawesi.
The reviewing participants of the fourth RAKERNAS were the members of the organization that have not yet consolidated in any of these bodies; Organizing Territories, National Secretary, Expert Council, and Senior Management Representative of PEREMPUAN AMAN.
The Fourth RAKERNAS of PEREMPUAN AMAN is the space for indigenous women to learn about organization. It is also the place for them to enhance their self-confidence upon expressing their thoughts, to argue, and to consolidate the discussion materials to their Organizing Territories. The fourth RAKERNAS gave a mandate to the President of PEREMPUAN AMAN to emerge the organizing committee of The Third National Gathering of PEREMPUAN AMAN.
There was an intensely more dynamics in the fourth of RAKERNAS comparing to the previous events. The committee who attended it almost represented all the Organizing Territories of PEREMPUAN AMAN. The participants of the Organizing Territories were aware of the sovereignty of the decision-making process.
“The participants are very much aware of what is currently discussed. In the previous RAKERNAS, they had no clue of what to discuss. Now, they fully understand the governance of the organization; what to do, what to decide. There are many more participants to voice out their thoughts. All participants are involved actively” as reported by the Chief of National Council Kalimantan Region, Olvy Octavianita Tumbelaka.
PEREMPUAN AMAN’s President Devi Anggraini, hoped that there would be implementations of the decisions in the fourth of RAKERNAS. “Consolidation has to run soon. Discussion materials in the fourth RAKERNAS have to be consolidated by the participants to their Organizing Territories,” she said. AW & YK
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