Narrative in Governance:

Case of an Energy Crop in Indonesia

Yuti Ariani Fatimah
School of Innovation Sciences Eindhoven University of Technology Y.A.F.Padmadinata@tue.nl

&

Sonny Yuliar
Development Studies Graduate Program Bandung Institute of Technology sonnyyuliar@yahoo.com

We have to launch New Deal to create jobs, rescue the suffering from the crisis, including the weakening of the purchasing power because of fuel price increase Indonesian President, July 1st, 2006 Peeler from the national government via the ESV program cannot be used due to inability in separating the energy crops kernel with its shell Purworejos Local Government, March 26th, 2012
I bought wet Calophyllum for Rp. 500 per kilogram and sold it dry for Rp. 700. When I dried 40 kilograms of wet Calophyllum, the weight decreased to 23 kilograms Calophyllums collector, April 10th, 2012

Forestry Research and Development Decree No. 24/2009 on the establishment of steering and managing team for developing Energy Self-Sufficient Village (ESV) based on Calophyllum Inophyllum L.
Financial analysis for the business model assumes Calophyllum contain 60% of oil, hence, a liter of oil needs 2.5 kilograms of Calophyllum Forestry Research and Development Agency, 2008
To produce 1 liter bio-diesel, 4-5 kilograms of Calophyllum is needed. With price Rp. 750 per kilogram, chemicals cost Rp. 3,500, cost for the raw materials is around Rp. 6,500. These numbers exclude labor, energy, deprecation, and any other additional costs (while price for diesel subsidized by the government is Rp. 4,500) Calophyllum Entrepreneur, April 10th, 2012

Governing the Narrative

In the field of social science and humanities, narrative is placed as a governmental tool to modulate various actors into a certain direction. It performs via exclusion of some actors and inclusion of others. However, as Law (2004) and Latour (2005) already warned us, taking a group as something given rather than following the actor(s) may exclude the reality itself. In response to the situation, we offer narratives as a performation (Callon, 2007), an assemblage of frictions and controversies where its creativity collapses into a single moment. Hence, narratives in governance should not only focus on the calculability it tries to produce, but also from the context of incalculability it tries to exclude. To operate both sides, we borrow Callon and Laws (2003) idea of rarefaction and proliferation. The former create incalculability via withdrawing the resources, while the latter, on the opposite, via adding unlimited resources of calculation. In this sense, only if Mertons self-fulfilling prophecya situation determined by the initial predictionis being performed, will the prophecy works.

Rise of an Energy Crop in Indonesia

As an illustration, we take the emergence of a new energy crop in Indonesia. The narrative starts when the Indonesian President launched what he called as a New Deal. The Deal was being translated via series of programs in which one of them is the Calophyllum Energy Self-sufficient Village (ESV). Phase I Frictions emerged in December 2009, when machines given by the national government to Purworejos local government under the ESV program are inefficient causing the production cost for the biodiesel became very high. Additionally, the business model promoted by the R&D assumes a liter of oil needs 2.5 kilograms of Calopyhllum seeds with no drying activities at the pickers side. With initial capital from the national budget, the program only survived for three months. Phase II In December 2010, an entrepreneur from Yogyakarta met Purworejos local government in an event on Calophyllum as one of forest non-timber products. The intersection was continued by an informal agreement to revitalize machines from the ESV program and develop a local energy initiative called From Purworejo for Indonesia. The collaborations generated Calophyllums road test attracting mass media, market creation, and a different business model. Despite the network expansion in Phase II, durability of the new business model is strongly influenced by its ability in improving the machines, creating stability for Calophyllums collectors and pickers, and expanding its market.

Concluding Remarks
If we say that a successful project existed from the beginning we are only repeating the words success and failure while placing the cause of both at the beginning of the project, at its conception (Latour, 1996:78)
The narrative aside shows that the Indonesian Presidents prophecy did not work when it was not being performed. On the other hand, it gives initial capital for the emergence of the new network as seen in Phase II. We argue that the ability to improve machines, create stability, and expand the market is determined by their reflexive awareness in anticipating the incalculability. Proliferation emerges when the national government gave machines to the local government. At that time, it was not clear who is responsible to what due to addition of new roles. In response to the situation, Purworejos local government together with the entrepreneur and local agencies isolate the network via excluding actors that cannot be calculated or modulated. Rarefaction emerges among the Calophyllum and its pickers. In the literature, the crop able to produce 60% of oil, while in the biodiesel plant, the number drop to 20-25%. For the collectors, the withdrawing calculation present in the form of demand shifting from wet seed to dry. In response to this situation, the entrepreneur creates a new narrative that works via interactions with various actors, while the pickers avoid the withdrawing via interactions with the buyer(s). []

Acknowledgment
This research is part of a PhD project granted from Indonesian Ministry of Education and research grant from IDRC (106159-001).