Meet the newly elected BUMMA Directors!
By Dominique Tan, Mitra BUMMA Co-CEO
"One day people from all over the world will come and ask to work for you because you will have a collective body that provides air for the world to breathe, of which all beings, seen and unseen, will be well and prosper." - Mama-mama Papua
This is the cosmology story shared by the Papuan women in response to Mitra BUMMA’s founder and co-CEO, Ruwi, sharing his vision of a collectively-owned indigenous peoples corporation during a fire circle one evening in June of 2022. Nearly one year later, we are one step closer to this prophecy as Namblong and Mare have just elected their first Indigenous Peoples’ Corporation (BUMMA) Directors.
So what does a collectively-owned business governed within a tribe’s customary governance structure look like?
Existing Governance Structures
“There is no land in this area that can be said to be no man's land or empty land. All the land in this region has been completely and carefully divided according to the boundaries inherited from the ancestors.”
- Matius Sawa, Namblong Tribal Traditional Council Chairman
One of Mitra BUMMA’s core programs is strengthening and revitalizing tribal governance structures. Each partner is unique and our work differs from tribe to tribe. The Mare tribe does not currently have a tribal governance structure, so Mitra BUMMA is working with the heads of each village (kampung) and clan (marga) to develop one. On the other hand, Namblong has a governance structure that has been passed down since time immemorial.
Governance of their tribal area is dictated by a governing body of five leaders with separation of duties. The DAS (Tribal Customary Council) is composed of the Irams (heads) from each of the 44 clans and works under the mandate of Iram Takai to serve the Namblong Tribe Indigenous Community.
Namblong’s tribal area is divided into Margas, or clans. These clans are further divided into villages.
'Our clarity of rule and self-organization contributes to peace among clans within the tribe and our neighbors with whom we share borders."
- Matius Sawa, Namblong Tribal Traditional Council Chairman
BUMMA and customary governance
The newest addition to the governance structures, which the Mitra BUMMA team facilitated, is the indigenous peoples corporation (BUMMA). Both Mare and Namblong’s BUMMAs are managed by tribally-elected Directors. As the team begins to operate, we will continue to iterate until the tribe is ready to incorporate into a formal legal entity.
Namblong’s newly formed BUMMA is called “Yombe Namblong. “Yombe” in the Namblong language means “ours,” thus Yombe Namblong means “belonging to all of the Namblong people.” BUMMA Yombe Namblong operates within the structure of the tribal customary governance structure under the rule of the tribal council. It is owned (shareholders) by the Iram (heads) of each of Namblong’s 44 clans and its operations are managed by tribally-elected Directors. Mitra BUMMA is working with the Mare tribe to establish a tribal governance structure.
Stay tuned as we begin operating these BUMMAs!
