Strategi bertahan hidup eks-pengungsi Timor Timur pasca penghentian durable solutions :: Studi di barak Tuapukan, Kabupaten Kupang, Propinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur)

YANUARTO, Theophilus, Prof. Dr. Tadjuddin Noer E

2008 | Tesis | S2 Sosiologi

Integrasi wilayah Timor Timur sebagai Propinsi ke-27 mengalami krisis ketika kemudian Pemerintah Indonesia menawarkan dua opsi: kemerdekaan atau otonomi. Opsi tersebut direalisasikan dengan diselenggarakannya jajak pendapat tahun 1999. Jajak pendapat yang dimenangkan oleh masyarakat Timor Timur yang mendukung kemerdekaan menyulut berbagai tindak kekerasan dan pembunuhan. Sebagian besar masyarakat Timor Timur mengungsi menuju wilayah Timor Barat dan salah satunya terkonsentrasi di Barak Tuapukan, Kabupaten Kupang. Sudah lebih 8 tahun eks-pengungsi Timor Timur menetap dan terkonsentrasi di Barak Tuapukan. Berbagai durable solutions yang ditawarkan Pemerintah Indonesia dan PBB tidak mampu menyelesaikan permasalahan eks-pengungsi. Namun demikian selama berada di pengungsian, mereka telah melakukan strategi-strategi bertahan hidup. Berdasarkan latar belakang ini maka penulis melakukan penelitian ini dengan tujuan untuk meneliti bentuk-bentuk atau pola strategi para eks-pengungsi Timor Timur agar dapat bertahan hidup meskipun bantuan kemanusiaan telah dihentikan oleh Pemerintah Indonesia dan PBB. Untuk melihat bentuk strategi bertahan hidup eks-pengungsi Timor Timur, penulis menggunakan penelitian yang bersifat deskriptif kualitatif dengan metode fenomenologi. Metode ini diterapkan dalam melihat kehidupan sehari-hari dengan maksud agar dapat memahami bagaimana mereka bertahan hidup di barak dengan sumber daya yang ada dan intervensi dari pihak-pihak luar seperti masyarakat lokal, pemerintah, dan lembaga-lembaga kemanusiaan. Sebagai rangkaian penelitian, penulis melakukan wawancara secara intesif dengan beberapa informan kunci dan observasi langsung di Barak Tuapukan dan sekitarnya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa mereka mengembangkan strategi bertahan hidup dalam bentuk subsistensi pangan, kemandirian, dan ketergantungan. Subsistensi pangan berasal dari kegiatan bercocok tanam di lahan yang terbatas. Kemandirian dilakukan melalui pencarian sumber penghasilan di sektor informal dan pemanfaatan alam meskipun pada kenyataannya mereka tidak terlepas dari bentuk ketergantungan. Bentuk strategi bertahan hidup yang dilakukan oleh setiap keluarga eks-pengungsi di Barak Tuapukan berbeda satu sama lain, sedangkan keadaan yang melatarbelakangi atau mempengaruhi bentuk strategi tersebut, antara lain motivasi dalam bekerja, sumber daya, tingkat kekerabatan dan interaksi dengan masyarakat lokal, dan intervensi bantuan pemerintah dan lembaga kemanusiaan .

Integration process of East Timor as the twenty-seventh province slipped into crisis as the Government of Indonesia (GoI) offered two options: independence or autonomy. The following options were realized by conducting a referendum in 1999. The result of referendum that placed majority of East Timorese for declaring independence triggered numerous actions leading to violence and killing. Most of the refugees moved to and concentrated in different camps around Indonesia’s West Timor territory. One of the main camps is the Tuapukan Camp located in Tuapukan village, District of Kupang. It has been 8 years since East Timorese refugees stayed and made home in Tuapukan Camp. Durable solutions that had been offered by GoI and United Nations (UN) were unable to solve problems of refugees. Nevertheless, during their stay in the camp, the refugees acquired various survival strategies. Based on this background, the author conducts a research with the purpose to reveal patterns of survival strategies applied in their daily life. More specifically, survival strategies acquired after the termination of humanitarian aid as of late 2005, which had been provided by GoI and UN. In order to investigate survival strategies adopted by former East Timorese refugees, the author uses the combination of descriptive and qualitative research method, and applied the phenomenology approach. This method and approach are used to observe the daily lives of refugees as a means to understand survival strategies while living in camps under limited resources and interventions from outsiders such as local communities, government and humanitarian aid organizations. As part of the overall research, the author conducts intensive interview with several key informants, intertwined with direct observation in the Tuapukan Camp and its surrounding areas. The result of the field research indicates that East Timorese refugees have been developing specific survival strategies. The author categories types of survival strategies into food subsistence, independence, and dependence in certain situations. Food subsistence comes from cropping in limited land. Independence is attained to make money in informal sector and use natural resources in surrounding areas. Each refugee family adopted their own different type of strategies to others. Many different backgrounds, such as motivation in working, resource, levels of kinship and interaction with local communities, and intervention done by government or humanitarian organizations give characteristics on types of survival strategies applied by former East Timorese Refugees in Tuapukan Camp.

Kata Kunci : Durable solutions, Eks pengungsi Timor Timur, Bertahan hidup, former refugee, durable solutions, survival strategy.