The Struggle of Bangka's Coastal Women to Defend Their Living Space

The Batu Beriga Village community is a Malay community living on the eastern peninsula of Bangka Island. The majority of the population is traditional fishermen and maintains traditions passed down through generations in cultivating marine resources. These include the following rules: “Panteng-Lareng” namely unwritten rules regarding social procedures in relation to nature and warnings “Taber laot” This is a traditional ritual to express gratitude to the sea which has given the community a livelihood, safety and warded off disasters that come from the sea, which is commemorated once a year.

However, these efforts do not guarantee the preservation of the marine ecosystem. Since 1995, the area has been under the control of a tin mining company operating a 5.000-hectare area. Since then, the company has repeatedly attempted to resume mining operations, but has failed due to the community's consistent opposition to the mine. The community is also still trying to revoke the mining permit (IUP), which threatens their sustainable livelihoods, but to no avail. Economically, fishermen have managed to produce up to 500 tons of fish per year. Some of this production is processed by women's groups into salted fish, rusip (fish flakes), fish floss, and fish crackers.

In this regard, the Berantai Coastal Women's Group in Baruga Village is promoting an initiative to strengthen the struggle of Coastal Women to defend their living space from mining company occupation through sustainable collective economic development. The goal is to achieve economic independence for these women's groups while raising public awareness of the importance of building a movement to resist the occupation of their managed areas.

As a result, 70 women's group members experienced increased knowledge through critical education on feminism, human rights, and legal feminism. This impacted the community's success in defending their living space by gaining commitment and support from the Governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands to reject tin mining activities in the waters of Batu Beriga Village. Furthermore, the community also pushed for the protection of their area to the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) and the Regent of Central Bangka, by changing the zoning from a mining zone to a fisheries zone.

In addition, fisherwomen also succeeded in gaining knowledge regarding the use of production tools, administration and financial records as well as marketing strategies that have an impact on the birth of new strategies in creating a competitive economy by producing marine products into products that have high sales value.