Community Participation towards the Establishment of an

Independent Village in Parmonangan Village, Toba Samosir

Husni Thamrin and Hatta Ridho

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia

Keyword: Independent Village, Participation, Capacity Building.

Abstract: Law No. 6 of 2014 about Village has provided more space for villagers to participate in village

development. Therefore, increasing the capacity of rural communities is important to strengthen the

development process so that it reflects the type of development that is participatory. If this is done then the

concept of an independent village in accordance with Law No. 6 of 2014 can really be implemented. The

program's achievements have resulted in a social engineering concept related to the implementation of

independent villages by increasing the capacity of the community and village apparatus. It is expected that

the implementation of the concept of an independent village will be able to build synergy between the

community and the village apparatus in the process of village planning and development.

INTRODUCTION

Village communities are the object of village

development which in Law No. 6 of 2014

concerning Villages is given an Lawive role in the

village development process. This then makes

development of the village to be appropriate in

accordance with the needs of the village community.

However, it should be noted that the role of the

patrimonial political system is a system that thrives

in Indonesian society. The political system that tends

to be massive will massively create a passive society

in development. The assumption that public policy

in the village is the domain of the village elite is an

assumption that will be a threat in the

implementation of participatory village

development.

In an effort to accelerate development from the

periphery, the Indonesian government carried out the

mandate of Law No. 6 of 2014 by allocating village

funds from the State Budget (APBN) whose

numbers continue to increase from year to year. In

2015 the amount of village funds amounted to Rp

20.8 trillion, in 2016 Rp 46.8 trillion, in 2017 Rp 60

trillion, in 2018 Rp 111 trillion. With this prestigious

amount of funds, the Ministry of Villages,

Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration

(Kemendes PDTT) declared the realization of 2,000

independent villages by the end of 2019 (Suryanto,

2017).

Law No. 6 of 2014 also explains that village

development aims to improve the welfare of rural

communities and the quality of human life and

poverty reduction through meeting basic needs,

construction of village facilities and infrastructure,

development of local economic potential and

sustainable use of natural resources and the

environment. It is explained in the third part that in

village development we must prioritize togetherness,

kinship and mutual cooperation in order to realize

the mainstreaming of peace and social justice.

The study of the independent village was carried

out in Samosir Regency, precisely in the

Parmonangan village. On the environmental aspect,

Samosir Regency has various problems that have not

been resolved. One example is the use of pesticides

for agriculture and their adverse effects on the Lake

Toba ecosystem. Along with the development of

community life on Lake Toba, many things are

feared to hit Lake Toba, ecological damage is one of

the main. This damage is caused by a variety of

things, from the habits of local people who make the

lake as a place for household waste disposal, this

condition is caused by community activities around

Lake Toba which makes Lake Toba as the disposal

of household waste, agricultural waste, to industrial

waste. According to Presidential Regulation Number

49 Year 2016 indicates the seriousness of the central

418

Thamrin, H. and Ridho, H.

Community Participation towards the Establishment of an Independent Village in Parmonangan Village, Toba Samosir.

DOI: 10.5220/0010038004180421

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 3 2019) - Social Engineering Governance for the People, Technology and Infrastructure in

Revolution Industry 4.0, pages 418-421

ISBN: 978-989-758-472-5

government to create Lake Toba area that is worthy

of being a tourist site that is internationally

competitive. If referring to the policy, the villages in

the vicinity of the Lake Toba area should be able to

prepare their communities in the national long-term

project through participatory development.

Law No. 6 of 2014 Article 72 paragraph 3

mandates that villages are entitled to a share of the

revenues of regional taxes and district/city levies of

at least 10%. If managed independently and

productively, the revenue-sharing funds allocated for

this village fund will create various types of

businesses that will lead to an increase in the

economy. In addition, the allocation of village funds

is also useful as a means of accelerating

development growth.

Parmonangan Village is one of the villages in the

Samosir district. Similar to the problems of various

villages in general in implementing Law No. 6 of

2014, the quality of human resources is also still a

serious problem in Parmonangan Village. Based on

data from the Central Statistics Agency in 2016 it

can be seen that as many as 60% of the people of

Parmonangan Village are graduated from Junior

High School (SMP). Implementation of Law No. 6

of 2014 can be a blessing for the village community,

at least in its implementation the village community

will get a big role in the development of the village

where they live. However, the implementation of

Law No. 6 of 2014 also placed a moral burden on

villagers. The reality that occurs in the field can be

seen by villages as if forced to be able to manage

their funds, government and resources independently

without being accompanied by careful preparation of

all aspects in it. This then makes village

development planning still not show the

characteristics of the implementation of

participatory development. Most Parmonangan

villagers are still passive towards the

implementation of their village development. This is

due to the lack of knowledge about the concept of

independent village development.

METHOD

Data was collected using the focus group discussion

(FGD) method. The implementation of this method

will involve all stakeholders in the village. This

method will train the sensitivity of all stakeholders

in the village in seeing the problems encountered in

the development process. The presentation from the

village apparatus regarding how the governance that

has been running so far, then discuss it together

when adjusted to the Village Law No. 6 of 2014.

Furthermore, the FGD results are analyzed to get a

conclusion on how independence in Parmonangan

Village will be achieved.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Through Law No. 6 of 2014 concerning the Village,

the village seemed to have full power to carry out

development independently through various

authorities it has. But the thing to remember is that

giving authority is also a process that is too early.

How not, only with a period of approximately one

year the Village Law has been confidently

implemented by the Indonesian government.

If you look at the history that has been passed

through the villages that have been described

previously as if creating a big question about the

readiness of the village to create prosperity for the

region. This is based on the readiness of the villages

themselves in managing their various rights. Ready

or not, village officials must be willing to manage

these funds in a transparent and accountable manner.

Village officials must learn how to develop a

development agenda starting from the required

resource plan, the implementation process to

indicators of achieving the agenda. In addition,

village apparatus must study the payment system,

accounting system, and reporting in accordance with

applicable laws and regulations as a form of

accountability to the public.

That explanation is one of the discussion

materials as introduction to participants so that they

understand that the village autonomy contained in

the Village Law has experienced a very long

journey. It is hoped that with this village autonomy

the community is expected to be able to utilize

village funds in accordance with their hopes and

needs. Therefore the spirit of village development

participation must continue to be increased to

maximize the development process.

This activity turned out to get a very good

response from the community. The community has

begun to be able to explain the constraints it faces on

an operational basis. The head of the village was

very enthusiastic in this activity. After the

presentation, the material continued with discussion.

The theme of the first discussion relates to the

function of The Village Representative Body (BPD)

in accommodating the aspirations of rural

communities.

The interesting thing that is gained is

understanding in conveying aspirations. The

Community Participation towards the Establishment of an Independent Village in Parmonangan Village, Toba Samosir

419

community understands that in conveying

aspirations it cannot only be conveyed to The

Village Representative Body. The community

actually has a variety of platforms that should be

effective in increasing the absorption of community

aspirations such as the clan gathering, Partangiangan

activities (Christian prayer events) and various other

activities. These containers should be optimized for

the absorption of new aspirations of figures in the

container to convey them to The Village

Representative Body (BPD).

The Parmonangan Village Head also considered

that it was difficult if the community waited for

meeting rooms initiated by the village government.

Several times the activities carried out by the

community were reluctant to come. The perception

of "discouraged", where the community assesses its

presence will not help many development activities

due to inadequate skills and quality of education.

The discussion theme then moves to the desire to

build a village-owned enterprise. The interesting

thing found is the awareness to be able to have a

joint business in the village that can provide mutual

benefits. Several village leaders explained that the

effort must reflect the strong will of the people of

the Village to move forward, produce proud village

products / capabilities and abilities.

The village is expected to be able to meet its

needs, intention, work, while the village covers the

economic, cultural and social fields which are based

on three forces namely:

The development of rural and inter-village

economic activities,

The strength of the village participatory system,

The development of communities in villages that

are economically and socio culturally strong.

Therefore, the community must be able to

present their initiatives, work, and participation in

the planning process, development implementation,

and program evaluation. If a village-owned

enterprise should be a necessity then that is then a

priority. In Law Number 6 Year 2014, village-

owned enterprise (BUMDes) is a business entity that

in whole or most of its capital is owned by the

village through direct participation based on village

assets that are separated to manage assets, service

services, and other businesses, as much as possible

for the welfare of the community village (Sidik,

2015).

Furthermore, the solutions offered by

representatives of community groups so that the

village of Parmonangan towards independence:

Optimizing small groups in the village such as

youth clubs, NHKBP, clan arisan groups and

others as a source of village development

aspirations,

Providing space for the community to participate

in the implementation of village development,

Prioritize agricultural development as a step to

improve the economy of rural communities

dominated by farmers,

Establish a village-owned enterprise (BUMDes)

that can accommodate the agricultural output of

rural communities.

These four solutions are considered by the

community to change the situation of the local

village. Small groups in the village have so far been

underused in efforts to absorb aspirations. Various

daily activities of the people tend to be lazy in

participating in village activities or meetings. This is

seen by the dedication team as a factor influencing

village development which is still far from the

expectations of the community. On the side of the

village community more enthusiastic about

participating in activities such as clan gathering,

worship activities, and youth activities. Therefore,

the village government and The Village

Representative Body (BPD) today must be able to

absorb the aspirations of small group activities in the

village.

Referring to the research that has been conducted

by Arifah and Kusumastuti (2018), there are four

strategies towards the independent village:

Carry out a mapping of village potentials and

market networks that can be managed to become

a source of village economy,

Applying methods of coaching and directing or

mentoring to accelerate development in the

socio-cultural aspects, strengthening the capacity

of village government and structuring village

administration,

Building synergy between village development

planning and regional planning, and national

planning. To form an independent village

requires careful planning so that development

can proceed properly and existing obstacles can

be controlled,

Building village governance into a modern,

village-based cultural organization.

Parmonangan Village can develop strategies that

might be formulated by combining what has been

formulated from the results of village discussions

with the results of research that has been done

elsewhere. This will provide additional insights into

improvements towards an independent village.

In the aspect of agriculture, many people

consider that village funds which have been the

foundation of village development cannot be

ICOSOP 3 2019 - International Conference on Social Political Development (ICOSOP) 3

420

massively optimized for the development of the

agricultural sector. There are two big problems that

currently exist in the Parmonangan Village

community today including the existence of

middlemen allegedly there because of the limited

access and sales network owned by coffee farmers.

This situation makes farmers choose to sell their

farmed coffee to middlemen. That way the

community will more quickly get money that can be

used to make ends meet. With the existence of

village-owned enterprise (BUMDes), farmers hope

that they will no longer have to sell their coffee to

middlemen.

In addition, with the addition of innovation,

coffee produced by farmers in Parmonangan Village

is expected to have a better sale value. In Husaeni's

research (2017) it was found the importance of

implementing the concept of community

empowerment in overcoming problems that exist in

society. Community empowerment is a concept of

economic development that encapsulates social

values. This concept reflects the 'people-centered'

development paradigm, participatory, empowering,

and sustainable.

The concept of empowerment is broader than just

efforts to meet basic needs or just mechanisms to

prevent. By implementing community

empowerment, it is expected that the community

will be aware to move their abilities in overcoming

problems.

CONCLUSION

Some conclusions that the Parmonangan Village

towards independence is to optimize synergy with

small groups in the village such as youth clubs,

NHKBP, clan gathering, arisan (social gathering

groups) and others as a source of village

development aspirations. These small groups can

provide space for the community to participate in the

implementation of village development.

Commitment in developing villages in

accordance with the mandate of Law No. 6 of 2014

focused on the participation of all elements of

village communities, especially village

communities. Previously, apathy had always been a

scourge for the village government in involving the

community in all series of village development

activities. After community service activities are

carried out, the people of Parmonangan Village are

more active in every activity carried out in the

village.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to the Lembaga Pengabdian Pada

Masyarakat (LPPM) Universitas sumatera Utara

who has provided the funding in the scheme of

NON-PNBP Universitas Sumatera Utara in

accordance with the Letter of Agreement for the

Implementation of Community Service Programs for

the Multi-Year Fiscal Year 2018 Number

173/UN5.2.3.2.1/PPM/2018, April 16

2018.

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