Journal of Asian Social Sciences Research
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021)

Military and Water Governance Practices: A Theoretical Analysis of the Involvement of Indonesian National Armed Forces in the Citarum Harum Project in West Java, Indonesia

Mustabsyirotul Ummah Mustofa (Universitas Padjadjaran)
Shafa Ghaisani Salsabila Brahmantika (Universitas Padjadjaran)
Bima Riandy Tarigan (Universitas Padjadjaran)



Article Info

Publish Date
23 Oct 2021

Abstract

The Citarum Harum project as stated in Presidential Regulation No. 15/2018 was created as a response to a report that Citarum is “the dirtiest river in the world”. It is said that the complexity of the management of the Citarum river involves the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) as the program implementer. This military involvement is claimed as a non-war military operation to increase the Citarum Harum program's effectiveness. However, in the discourse of Water Governance, the military is hardly mentioned as an engaged stakeholder, especially in the framework of "governance" which emphasizes the democratic process controlled by civilians. This article seeks to explain what kind of regime can justify the claim of military involvement in water management as a vital public affair. A qualitative approach was used to achieve a comprehensive theoretical analysis in explaining this research problem. The findings indicate that military involvement in water governance is related to security issues, especially water security, and mainly in conflict areas. Meanwhile, in non-conflict areas, water governance places great importance on public and government participation in a very democratic process. Accordingly, the involvement of the TNI in the Citarum Harum program can be said as a practice that has deviated from the shared concept of water governance.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jassr

Publisher

Subject

Social Sciences

Description

Journal of Asian Social Science Research is a peer-reviewed and open access publication since 2019. It aims to contribute to the development of Asian social science by providing a forum for researchers, academics and policy-makers to publish their research on the broad problems on Asian social ...