Written by: Anang Sidik*
The VI AMAN Congress (KMAN) took place from 24 – 30 October 2022 in Jayapura. The Congress is a five-year event for Indigenous Peoples communities who are members of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN). Indigenous Peoples from various regions sent representatives to attend the congress. KMAN itself is a mechanism to reflect and consolidate the organisation towards a guided Indigenous Peoples movement. Around 1500 participants representing Indigenous Peoples gathered. Not only Indigenous Peoples, there were also representatives of the Government, both Ministries and institutions, CSOs, and the media, participating in a series of congress events.
The Opening Act
Kaoem Telapak (KT) is one of the organisers of the workshop, which is an important part of the KMAN series. Sarasehan is a place to gather ideas, criticism and efforts to find solutions to the problems of Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia. KT participated in Workshop 6 with the theme Strengthening the Role of Government and Local Governments in Implementing the Constitutional Mandate to Respect and Protect the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
There are two objectives of this workshop; first, to identify breakthrough policies, strategies and programmes in the process of recognition and protection of Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia. Second, to identify obstacles from the operationalisation of policy processes related to the recognition of Indigenous Peoples, including tenure rights and ancestral rights, as well as ancestral territories and the authority of Indigenous Peoples to manage and utilise their natural resources.
According to the records of the Indigenous Territories Registration Agency (BRWA) in 2022, there are only 77 districts in 24 Indonesian provinces that have issued local policies on procedures for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples. However, only 15% or 3 million hectares of Indigenous Territories have been recognised by local governments out of 20.4 million hectares of Indigenous Territories mapped by communities. The slow process of recognising indigenous territories is one of the obstacles that this congress aims to examine. The need for a holistic legal platform on Indigenous Peoples (the Indigenous Peoples Bill) is another sub-discussion.
Sarasehan 6
Sarasehan 6 was held in Yokiwa Village, East Sentani District and attended by more than 200 representatives of indigenous peoples from various parts of the archipelago. In addition, Sarasehan 6 was also filled with speakers from various backgrounds such as the Regent of Jayapura, Representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), Representatives of the West Papua Provincial Government, Civil Society Groups and Academics.
Progressive Walking Discussion
Kasmita Widodo from BRWA acted as moderator and opened the workshop with the presentation of the speakers. The Regent of Jayapura, Mathius Awoitauw, started the presentation by showing various achievements of Indigenous Peoples in Jayapura Regency. One of his achievements is how the solidity of Indigenous Peoples against corporations that threaten the sustainability of forests in Papua.
The discussion was continued by West Papua Province Representative, Dr Henrikus Renjaan, SH. L.LM, CLA who explained the obstacles or barriers to the recognition, protection, and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples in West Papua Province. According to him, the commitment of governors and regents or mayors in supporting the programme to accelerate the recognition of Indigenous Peoples can be implemented through adequate and targeted budget planning. In addition, the collaboration and synergy of the provincial or district-municipal governments in utilising the human resources of development partners can also be successful in accelerating the recognition of Indigenous Peoples in West Papua.
The discussion then led to an analysis of the process of recognising ancestral forests in Indonesia. KLHK, represented by Ir. Muhammad Said, MM, explained the government’s achievements in ancestral forests. There are 105 decrees (SK) on ancestral forests that have been issued by KLHK from 2016 to 2022, with an area of 148,488 hectares. These designated ancestral forests cover 47 thousand households in almost 17 provinces.
KLHK also elaborated on the many regulations related to the establishment of customary forests and those related to the recognition of Indigenous Peoples. According to him, this is due to the slow pace of laws that comprehensively regulate Indigenous Peoples. The slow pace of regulation was responded to by each relevant ministry to fill the legal vacuum. Thus, regional regulations, although through a political process, became one of the paths that could be achieved as a legal basis for Indigenous Peoples to be recognised.
After the government representatives, civil society groups and academics also presented material related to the theme of the workshop. Academics were represented by Bivitri Susanti from STHI Jentera. She reviewed the recognition and protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and underlined several important points, especially the challenges of legislation in the regions (perda). Firstly, regulations are often very close to the interests of investors. Secondly, many local regulations on the recognition and protection of IPs are not operational. This is because most local regulations are still abstract or only contain definitions. Then they are only declarative, making it difficult to operationalise.
In addition to Bivitri, KPA Secretary General, Dewi Kartika also contributed her thoughts, especially in discussing the current position of agrarian reform and the condition of agrarian conflicts that occur in Indigenous Peoples. According to her, the narrow administrative space for recognition and strengthening of rights is one of the challenges of Indigenous Peoples. In addition, a moratorium on business entity rights and licences needs to be carried out in addition to restoring Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their ancestral lands. Encouraging bottom-up agrarian reform models of Indigenous Peoples needs to be done as one of the initiatives.
Interactive Session
When the presentation was finished, participants held a second panel discussion with an interactive discussion format about the problems of each representative or region. Each region conveyed the factual conditions of their ancestral territory. Representatives from the Kinipan Indigenous Peoples Community, for example, expressed how for years they had fought for their ancestral territory and demanded for recognition. However, until now it has been difficult to obtain recognition status, in addition to ongoing terror or criminalization. Moreover to the existing feuds, participants also conveyed how existing regulations (regional regulations) have not had direct implications for Indigenous Peoples welfare. The situation can be seen from indications of welfare and poverty in their ancestral territory.
Recommendations
After the presentation and interactive discussion, the committee gathered all the important points and summarized them into recommendations. One of the recommendations outlined in this workshop is the need for an evaluation mechanism for the impact of the Regional Regulation on the Recognition and Protection of Indigenous Peoples rights so that its implementation will be beneficial and right on target for indigenous peoples, both in terms of economic, social and environmental impacts.
Not only that, law schools are also an important reference in the recommendations of the 6th Workshop. Indigenous Peoples are required to at least defend themselves and their groups so that law schools become vital in the future. The results of the workshop recommendations are one of the references or bases for AMAN in determining their program for the next five years.
*The Author is Campaigner of Kaoem Telapak
