Indonesia’s parliament could pass a long-awaited Indigenous rights bill this year that would help protect communities and critical ecosystems, according to lawmakers and activists.
The bill, which has been languishing in the legislature for more than 14 years, has been placed on a list of top priority bills for 2025 called Prolegnas.
It would replace a patchwork of laws that has failed to secure land rights for Indigenous communities which have long been subject to human rights abuses, including land grabbing, that create displacement and food insecurity.
The bill would grant much-needed legal rights and recognition of land and natural resources, according to supporters.
“Over the years, Indigenous communities have been facing legal uncertainty, and they have been marginalised as a result,” said Arzeti Bilbina, a member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) in the country’s ruling coalition.
“That’s why we’re pushing to pass the bill hopefully this year,” she told Context. “It has been long overdue.”
Twelve million acres of customary land have been formally recognised in Indonesia, leaving about 62.4 million acres claimed by Indigenous communities without formal recognition by the government as of 2024, according to the non-profit Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA).
“The absence of legal protection brings inequalities,” said Syamsul Alam Agus of the Coalition to Guard the Indigenous Peoples Bill, a coalition of several Indonesian non-profits. “So it’s urgent to pass the bill.”
“
If the bill is passed, we hope that we have greater role in conserving nature and our way of life.
Rukmini Paata Toheke, activist, Ngata Toro Indigenous community
Granting rights to their living space would expand the role of Indigenous communities in biodiversity and nature conservation because they have been practising sustainable land use and stewardship for generations, Agus added.
Indigenous communities across Indonesia were involved in 687 cases of land conflicts with the state and the private sector in the last 10 years, the Nusantara Indigenous Peoples Alliance (AMAN) advocacy organisation said in December.
These disputes covered more than 27 million acres of customary land and saw almost 1,000 Indigenous people arrested without charges or jailed for “obstructing national interests,” AMAN said.
“The ratification of the Indigenous Peoples bill will provide legal certainty while creating equitable investment for all parties,” said Muhammad Arman, AMAN’s Director of Legal Advocacy.
Indigenous communities often do not benefit from government or private projects because they are not considered the rightful owners of customary land and have often been displaced and unable to access their source of livelihoods, he added.
“So it is a way to ensure Indigenous communities are not left behind in investments or projects,” Arman said.
The Indigenous Peoples bill was submitted to the House of Representatives in 2010 and has been included in the Prolegnas three times already, but lawmakers have failed to discuss or pass it into law, for which they must be unanimously agreed.
At least two political parties in the House of Representatives — the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) — have rejected the bill in the past, saying it would hamper investment and obstruct national interests.
The PDI-P did not respond to repeated requests for comment, while Golkar Party said it would follow all procedures and evaluate the bill this year.
The Coalition said it was optimistic that the bill would be passed this year after recent discussions with members of the legislature indicated no substantial objections.
“So the chance to be passed is wide open, but we still need support from the public,” said Veni Siregar, a Coalition coordinator.
Disputed boundaries
Indigenous rights are currently recognised and protected in a piecemeal fashion in Indonesia, from a constitutional amendment in 2000 to various national and regional laws.
The proposed bill would override existing laws which overlap and have failed to provide legal protection and certainty, said Joeni Arianto Kurniawan, director of the Center for Legal Pluralism Studies at Airlangga University in Indonesia.
“It’s a mess, because government ministries have their own laws and regulations to follow, which in the end jeopardise the life of Indigenous communities,” Kurniawan said.
He said the bill would provide for greater social, economic and political participation by Indigenous people on the national level while providing a mechanism to resolve conflicts.
Indigenous communities can find it difficult to formally register customary land and forests due to bureaucracy and disputed boundaries with the state or with corporations, experts noted.
Rukmini Paata Toheke, an activist from the Ngata Toro Indigenous community in Central Sulawesi, has been fighting for the ratification of the bill for more a decade.
She said her community has been practicing nature conservation for generations but is threatened by development and illegal activities such as poaching, logging and mining.
“If the bill is passed, we hope that we have greater role in conserving nature and our way of life,” she said.
This story was published with permission from Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit https://www.context.news/.
