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Defri Bayu Zolefudin Afif, Universitas Gadjah Mada, IndonesiaAbstract
This paper examines indigenous resistance to state-led geothermal development on Flores Island, Indonesia, focusing on the communities of Poco Leok and Wae Sano in Manggarai. Since the government designated Flores a “Geothermal Island” to accelerate renewable energy expansion, geothermal concessions have been introduced into ancestral territories, generating conflict between national energy policy and local community values. While geothermal projects are publicly framed as sustainable and equitable, affected indigenous groups perceive them as threats to land, cosmology, and social cohesion. Drawing on a qualitative case study, the analysis investigates how indigenous knowledge systems inform political agency and collective action. Concepts of land, wellbeing, and livelihood embedded in Manggarai cosmology—expressed through principles such as Lampek Lima and Riang tana tiwa lami tana taki—serve not only as cultural identity markers but also as grounds for strategic mobilisation. Community responses have taken diverse forms, including ritual protest, village-level organising, legal claims, engagement with civil society actors, and advocacy beyond local districts. Findings show that resistance is not simply opposition to development but a demand for alternative visions of sustainability grounded in communal decision-making and cultural principles. The paper argues that indigenous communities play an active role in shaping the meaning and direction of energy transition, and that effective public policy must recognise plural knowledge systems and the rights of local communities to define development outcomes.
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