JakartaPost-Sept 4
Civil society groups have presented their own draft bill on indigenous peoples to the House of Representatives, seeking legislation that would provide legal standing for the underserved and dispossessed. The Coalition for the Indigenous Peoples Bill submitted the draft to the House Legislation Body (Baleg) in a hearing on Wednesday, containing 11 key provisions that address issues for which indigenous communities and advocacy groups have long fought. It includes a formal and proper definition of indigenous peoples and customary territories, mechanisms for recognizing their communities, protection for indigenous women, as well as the establishment of a national commission to help protect their rights. The proposed commission is expected to help ease the cumbersome bureaucracy indigenous peoples face in obtaining status as indigenous communities and defending their rights, including when there are overlapping claims over territories and forests. The Association for Community and Ecologically Based Law Reform (HUMA), a member of the coalition, noted the current recognition mechanism is layered and sectoral. Indigenous communities must first obtain the status through enactments of regional regulations in the regions in which they live, then their existence must be verified by ministries either in charge of forest management, customary land or culture and heritage. “We don’t want the recognition and registration of indigenous communities to be carried out through regional regulations anymore,” HUMA deputy coordinator Erwin Dwi Kristianto told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. “Based on our experience, it hasn’t been beneficial. It takes a long time and is costly.”
Erwin said formal registration was important to provide these communities with legal standing, particularly when they face legal disputes over territories or forest, whose claims often overlap with state forest areas or conflict with mining and plantation concessions. HUMA recorded at least 461 bylaws in 32 provinces and 104 regencies regulating indigenous communities, but only a small portion of them directly grant recognition to these communities. Indonesia is home to more than 2,000 indigenous communities, representing an estimated 40 million to 70 million people, according to the Alliance of Indigenous People (AMAN). Read more at:
