Indigenous People Have Not Been Recognized
Still awaiting completion of the determination of customary forest, the process has been judged as quite slow. This living space is important for indigenous people to manage the environment and avoid conflict.
Natural forest surrounds a residential area in Konda District, South Sorong, West Papua, Wednesday (9/6/2021). The local community rejected the plan for the presence of oil palm plantations in their area..
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Even though indigenous people are recognized in the constitution, their existence is still not recognized by a number of local governments. This is one of the issues that impacts the lack of designated customary areas, including customary forests, the living spaces for indigenous people.
Forests for indigenous peoples are likened to a mother figure who fulfills every need of life, whether economic, health or social, as well as maintaining cultural traditions and local knowledge of its nature. In the midst of the massive need for land-based investment space and infrastructure, protection of indigenous people and customary forests is necessary.
The chairman of the Keerom Regency Customary Council, Central Papua, Servo Tuames, said on Thursday (2/6/2022), that there were no longer large amounts of customary forest in the Arso, Waris and Yaffi districts. Indigenous forests have been replaced by the construction of the Trans-Papua road, the opening of palm oil plantations and illegal gold mining.
"One of the biggest impacts of massive customary-forest clearing in Keerom was the occurrence of catastrophic floods since 2005. The condition of Keerom is now not like it used to be, where floods rarely occurred despite heavy rains for hours," he said.
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Helmi Muid, the head of the Depati Muaro Langkap Customary Institution at the buffer of the Kerinci Seblat National Park, Kerinci Regency, Jambi, questioned the proposed Regional Regulation for the Territory of the Indigenous Peoples. If this regional regulation is issued soon, residents have the legal power to protect the forest from the threat of environmental destruction.
The absence of a regional regulation also contributes to making the determination of customary forests protracted. He said that the application for customary forests in the area had been waiting for four years without definite progress. "There have been several meetings of the parties, but until now the news is not clear," said Helmi.
Local people are worried because illegal mining activities have penetrated into the Kerinci Seblat National Park. The illegal activities are even getting closer to the proposed area of 3,100 hectares of customary forest.
The deputy director of the Warsi Indonesian Conservation Community (KKI), Adi Junedi, also noticed the slow pace of designating customary-forest rights. In fact the requirements are complete. The only part taking time is the verification process.
The reason for this is that verification is carried out directly by a team from the central government, which must go to the field. The queues become long because of the many proposals from various regions.
Adi said the Environment and Forestry Ministry (KLHK) should be able to distribute this technical verification work to the KLHK work units at the regional level, for example through the Agency for Social Forestry and Environmental Partnerships (BPSKL).
A number of jungle mothers harvest sago palm leaves around their settlements in the Pelepat area, Bungo Regency, Jambi, Friday (3/6/2022). Rumbia is processed into woven mats or bedding. Natural raw materials are increasingly difficult to obtain as forests shrink.
The dean of the Faculty of Forestry, the University of Jambi, Bambang Irawan, questioned the process of establishing customary forests which was considered more complicated than licensing in other social-forestry schemes. To get the designation of customary forest, one must go through local regulations. He suggested that the process be simplified.
"As long as the traditional communities exist, the forests are available, and the people are still loyal to managing them, the government can grant it immediately," he said, on Saturday (4/6).
The head of the Social Forestry Division of the Jambi Provincial Forestry Office, Bambang Yulisman, admitted that completion of designations of customary forest areas was still minute. This is because the licensing process is lengthy. The determination of customary forest is directly handled by the Environment and Forestry Ministry.
The need of support
The head of sub-directorate for Recognition of Customary Forests and Protection of Local Wisdom at the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Yuli Prasetyo Nugroho, added that efforts to accelerate the establishment of customary forests need support from various parties, including local governments, because there are many customary forests which administratively overlap with other areas.
Yuli said that maps related to the majority customary areas are already available. However, there are still many spatial maps that the local government does not understand because indigenous people define customary areas with local wisdom or use natural boundaries.
So, joint planning is needed because the determination of the customary forest is one of the efforts in conflict resolution.
"The maps sometimes have not been internalized by the stakeholders, both regional governments and stakeholders, such as the forest-management units and the national park parties. So, joint planning is needed because the determination of the customary forest is one of the efforts in conflict resolution," he said.
The lack of partiality with indigenous people often creates conflicts, especially when indigenous people try to defend their living space from various parties which undermine them.
According to the records at the end of 2021 from the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (AMAN), throughout 2021 there were 13 cases of confiscation of customary territories covering an area of 251,000 hectares and impacting 103,717 people. Most recently, there were 11 cases of conflict of indigenous people in January-May 2022.
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An unspoiled natural forest area borders the transmigrant area in Nimbokrang District, Jayapura Regency, Papua, Wednesday (11/24/2021). The forest in this area is still preserved by indigenous peoples to protect endemic Papuan animals such as birds of paradise.
Even though the Constitutional Court has removed customary forests from forest areas (state forests) in 2013, known as the Constitutional Court Decision 35, according to data from the Directorate General of Social Forestry and Environmental Partnerships of the Environment and Forestry Ministry, only 76,155.67 hectares of customary forest have been designated. Of this coverage, no customary forests are designated in Papua and West Papua.
However, the Environment and Forestry Ministry already has an indicative customary forest area of more than 1 million hectares. It is located in 19 provinces, including Papua and West Papua.
Besides that, the Indigenous Territory Registration Agency noted that, as of March 2022, 1,091 maps of customary territories had been made in 29 provinces and 141 regencies/cities with an area of 17.6 million hectares. Of that number, 176 maps covering an area of 2.6 million hectares have received status determination from local governments.
Political process
The founder and researcher of the Indigenous Community Ethnographic Study Center, Yando Zakaria, emphasized that the constitution has recognized indigenous people. In Article 18B of the 1945 Constitution, the constitution recognizes the existence of customary-law communities as long as they are still alive and in accordance with the principles of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) in the constitution.
"The problem is that there is a political process involved in this recognition, such as local regulations. The process of determining this is influenced by politics. This does not benefit indigenous people," he said.
On the other hand, there is a misperception of public officials regarding indigenous people. “When discussing customary law communities, it is being confused with ethnic groups. So, if Papuan indigenous people are recognized, all [land] belongs to the local customary law, then where is the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia? It's a misguided thought," said Yando.
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That is why, according to him, it is difficult for indigenous people to get recognition even though the constitution has guaranteed it. He hopes that the determination of the recognition of indigenous people does not go through a political process. "It should be an academic process," he said.
Yando added that the recognition of indigenous people can also be reached by Law Number 6 of 2014 on Villages which regulates customary villages. The criteria for customary villages in this regulation are fewer than the Home Ministry Regulation Number 52 of 2014.
However, the recognition, on authority of the Law on Villages, still overlaps with other regulations. Yando encouraged the Draft Customary Law, which has been initiated for a long time, to be immediately completed by involving experts and of course representatives of indigenous people. (MTK/ITA/IKI/FLO/CIP)
This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo
