So, it is time for us to be open that the government's steps in establishing policies food estate to fulfill food security are considered inappropriate to be applied to a number of parties, especially in a situation where there is no recognition of indigenous legal communities. It should be remembered that long before the newly formed Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, the existence of indigenous legal communities has existed until now. Therefore, one way that reflects that the state has 'courtesy' towards the existence of indigenous peoples who have existed beforehand is by implementing legal policies (legal policy) in the form of granting recognition to indigenous legal communities as regulated in the mechanism in the Regulation of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 52 of 2014 concerning Guidelines for the Recognition and Protection of Indigenous Legal Communities.

Even if this mechanism is fulfilled, there is still a 'stumbling block' because the state recognition given is still a prerequisite. John Griffits through the theory of legal pluralism conveys that; “state recognition of customary law is a phenomenon of weak legal pluralism to create a parallel legal system where the centralism/control of state law remains the main focus, including in this case the state of Indonesia (information added)”.[4]

Therefore, the only best way is to reconcile that legal pluralism is part of the reality of life. In practice, Indonesia needs to hold a grand legal reform agenda, namely by unraveling the restrictions imposed by the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, especially in the phrase 'as long as it still exists' because the wording of the article has the potential to deny the original legal characteristics of the Indonesian nation which are living law, meaning that customary law lives, grows and develops with the community so that it does not easily die.

After that, the Indonesian government is invited to reflect on the policy self-regulation through the policy of recognizing customary villages as the best alternative solution that is stronger and more suitable to the inner atmosphere of the Indonesian nation which is plural at this time. This is because Article 76 of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages states that; “Village Assets can be in the form of… village-owned forests”.

This article contains the logical implication that without the presence of a regional regulation on the recognition of indigenous legal communities from the Government, customary forests still exist through the village asset management mechanism. Meanwhile, the best alternative way from a comparative study of countries also finds that the collaborative approach model carried out by Russia in recognizing indigenous legal communities can be exemplified through the process of recognizing origin rights by following the development of the ethnopolitical process involving a systemic approach based on the historical material of indigenous legal communities clearly approached from various dimensions such as; historical, legal-historical, value-normative, anthropological.

That way, state recognition is not limited to regulatory norms, but also real control over land historically so that customary forests continue to exist.[5]Only after that, can we talk about policies food estate in any variety can be passed to maintain the food security of the Indonesian nation in the future.

So does the state still perpetuate food estate, while marginalizing the position of indigenous legal communities over their land?

References

  • [1] An nisa Ayu Mutia, Regulation of Food Estate Development in Forest Areas to Realize Food Security in Indonesia, Bina Hukum Lingkungan, Volume 6, Number 2, February 2022, p. 226
  • [2] Article 19, Regulation of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Number 24 of 2020 concerning the Provision of Forest Areas for Food Estate Development.
  • [3] Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, Resilient in the Midst of Crisis, End of Year Notes 2021, p. 24
  • [4] John Griffiths, “Understanding Legal Pluralism, A Conceptual Description”, in Legal Pluralism: An Interdisciplinary Approach, ed. Association for Community and Ecological Based Law Reform (HuMa) (Jakarta: Association for Community and Ecological Based Law Reform [HuMa], 2005, pp. 74-80.
  • [5] Maksim Zadorin, et.all, Governance principles of collaboration between state and indigenous peoples of Arkhangelsk Governorate – Based on archive materials, Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 332, Proceeding on Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, p. 155