International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 76

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
(1999). Paundralinga (2009) further highlights how the formative economic push of the New
Order regime shaped the environmental health predisposition of Indonesia. The structural
adjustments and liberalization of Indonesia were successful not only in increasing working
class poverty and overexploitation of labour. They were also effective in creating a culture
of environmental degradation through overexploitation, deforestation, and weak
enforcement of environmental regulations such as draining, sanitation, and waste and
rubbish management. The resulting government culture has consistently chosen
industrialization over environmental protection and promotion of social welfare and public
health (Paundralinga, 2009).
We begin our paper with a brief literature review outlining past relevant academic
papers. Here we have identified a gap. There are a lack of studies which investigate these
‘other causes’ for maternal and neonatal mortality in South Central Timor. Research on the
ume kbubu also remains limited. We have found even fewer studies which have adopted
participatory research approaches which involve local communities in the shaping of the
direction and questions asked within the research. The remainder of the paper is structured
as follows: section 2 outlines three of the key background concepts including development
gaps in Indonesia, environmental health conditions in South Central Timor ad the role of the
ume kbubu. Section 3 outlines the research method including the field work structure and
the paper’s environmental health framework. Section 4 covers the results of the research
and field work including the focus group discussions and participatory statistics.
Literature review
There have been a number of international reports which have assessed environmental
health conditions in East Timor. Ardhikary (2002) in the report for the World Health
Organisation has identified both water management and sanitation as key historic issues in
East Timor. However, there have not yet been equivalent reports analyzing health
conditions in South Central Timor (TTS). In addressing this gap, the paper provides a
characterization of the environmental health conditions within a small sample of villages in
TTS.
There are a range of studies on traditional housing in South Central Timor.
Situmeang (2013), in her Masters thesis, provides a deep and insightful account of the
primary use of the ume kbubu as a granary and kitchen. This is an important aspect of food
security in TTS. In relation to the impact of the ume kbubu grass thatch hut on maternal and
neonatal health, past literature yields more mixed results. Most controversial, is the role of
panggang. The debate regarding the use of the ume kbubu for panggan processes has
already come to symbolize a clash between local traditional belief and external government
interventions for ‘healthy homes’ (Windi and Whittaker, 2012). Reports from external and
national government agencies have argued for greater intervention measures to reduce the
use of ume kbubu for traditional panggang processes (Soerachman and Wiryawan, 2013;
Athena and Soerachman, 2014). One such paper identifies correlations between the use of
76 | P a g e