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IL News 003/2014
Jakarta, February 14th, 2014
In the midst of the swift currents of national development, customary land issue is becoming more urgent to be addressed. Vagueness in the conceptualization and challenges in the field implementation related to customary rights indicate the necessity for serious discussions to help figure out the solution.
To seek the answer, the Institut Leimena held a discussion on the “Recognition and Respect for Customary Rights in National Development” on February 14th, 2014, at the Wisma PGI Teuku Umar in Jakarta. This event was a program of the Leimena’s Taskforce on Legal and Judicial Studies, led by Dr. Maruarar Siahaan, a former Constitutional Court Judge. The discussion was conducted in two sessions. The first session discussed the issue from the philosophical and constitutional perspectives, with Leimena President Jakob Tobing and Prof. Dr. R.Z. Titahelu of Pattimura University’s Law Faculty as the speakers.
The second session took a more practical analysis at the implementation level, especially from the legislative, government, and private sector viewpoints. Member of Parliament Manuel Kaisiepo, curently working on a bill to recognize and protect indigenous people’s rights, discussed the legislative challenges. The government’s perspective was brought in by Jambi Province’s Legal Bureau Head M. Jaelani and Kupang Mayor Ayub Titu Eki. Then, Indonesia Global Compact Network President YW Junardy took up the issue from the private sector’s experience.
The discussion tried to investigate the root problem of the customary rights in Indonesia, and to propose fresh ideas to unravel this complex issue. Other authorities and experts on this issues also participated in the discussion, including Supreme Court Judge Dr. H. Abdurrahman, Legal and Public Relations Center Head Dr. Kurnia Toha of the National Land Agency, and other members of parliament. From the academic institutions, Law Faculty Deans from Cendrawasih University (Papua) and Pattimura University (Molucca)—both from the eastern part of Indonesia where customary rights issues abound—, and also lecturers from Indonesian Christian University, Maranatha Christian University, and Pelita Harapan University, joined the discussion.
The results of this discussion will be provided to policy makers, so that no communities will be marginalized in this swift current of national development. If properly managed, customary rights would not necessarily become a problem, but rather a force for national development to achieve welfare for the whole people.