Self-determined land rights in Indonesia: A review on various tenure recognition options

The State’s recognition towards indigenous peoples (adat community) in Indonesia continues to grow after its political and law reform. Dozens of regulations in the central government level and hundreds of other regulations have been passed to recognize the existence, territory, and rights of adat community. Even so, such recognition has not shown promising results yet, especially for tenure security of adat community. Tenure control by adat community only reached 12% of total forests/land control by a non-state actor. Meanwhile, the other 88% are remain controlled by corporations or private entities. No wonder if such inequality leads to poverty suffered by approximately 10.2 million people live within the forests area.

Responding to this situation, the government had launched several policies. For instance, Ministry of Environment and Forestry introduced the Social Forestry (Perhutanan Sosial) scheme that has distributed 2.743.739,37 Ha (from the minimum target of 12,7 million Ha). Further, Ministry of Agrarian and Spatial Affairs/National Land Agency (Kementerian Agraria dan Tata Ruang/Badan Pertanahan Nasional) also encouraged the Comprehensive Systematic Land Registration (Pendaftaran Tanah Sistem Lengkap (PTSL)) and had legalized 6.207.818 plots of land (2015-2018). Through the land redistribution program, National Land Agency has also distributed 262.189 plots of land to the people; and has registered of 19.468,38 Ha land under the Communal Right (Hak Komunal) status.1

Furthermore, there are various other schemes that can be considered as an alternative for the tenure recognition. These schemes can be manifested as a form of a public instrument e.g. District Head Decree and Regional Regulations, as well as a private one e.g. Evidence of Right (tax receipt or a reference letter from the village head). Besides the formal schemes, there are also non-state mechanisms such as Agreement between Community and Government/Corporation or private transfer of rights (sale and purchase or lease). These schemes alongside with their advantages and disadvantages have been practiced in many places and have provided various degrees of tenure security.

These diverse options of tenure recognition instrument do not necessarily bring a significant improvement in the control and tenure security of the adat community. Based on such awareness, this report aims to provide authoritative documents, which may broadly assess the advantages and disadvantages of each tenure alternative for adat community and local community in Indonesia. Those various options are offered through a statutory regulation, court decision, or agreement. This report aims to show that the strengths and weaknesses of the available various tenure options which can be used by the communities as a consideration in choosing the most appropriate recognition strategy and tenure model for their particular condition and aspiration.

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