JAKARTA, Media www.rajawalisiber.com – Expert on Agrarian Law and Customary Law, DR. Aartje Tehupeiory stated that the issue of agrarian and customary rights is a very serious matter. He even reviewed that the land grabbing of customary rights by land mafias had been going on for a long time. The representation, said Aartje, is that the State must be present to protect customary rights.
“In my view, there are regulations on customary law that are missing and are not in line with the constitution of the 1945 Constitution. These problems often arise in various regions of this nation due to a lack of understanding of customary land ownership, that every regional government from the sub-district level to the governor must be able to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.” -customary rights,” said Aartje at the Indonesian Christian University LPPM building, Thursday (11/18/2021).
He also mentioned the need for the Draft Law (RUU) on Customary or Ulayat Rights which was ratified by the Indonesian Parliament to protect all customary land and village forests. “Customary law is a positive law that has definite stipulations. For this reason, we together with colleagues who have sensitivity and concern in building the nation’s noble values are conducting a material review on this matter, and will immediately submit a Hearing Meeting (RDP) to the DPR for the preparation and ratification of the Customary Rights Bill,” he explained.
The issue of customary land in Papua, precisely in Nafri Village, Jayapura City, which is currently in a litigation and has gone viral in the world of social media for the loss of customary rights, needs to be carried out with accuracy and real data collection.
In more detail, Aartje reviewed with the emergence of 50 certificates of property rights in the name of individuals issued by the Jayapura City BPN in 2009, Aartje said that there was a need for a review and data collection of data and files on customary land ownership based on the provisions and rules set out according to the recognition of indigenous peoples. .
“Regarding the emergence of certificates of property rights issued by the Jayapura City BPN, data collection must be carried out again to obtain the validity of customary land ownership, especially the existence of a letter of release or delegation of customary land from the chiefs of the tribes there, and even then, it must go through a process that is not easy.” Aartje.
If the issuance of certificates of ownership rights is not based on the provisions stipulated in the legal acknowledgment of the Indigenous peoples and tribal chiefs, Aartje emphasized that the 50 certificates that appear can be said to be administrative defects.
“Certificates that have been issued by the National Land Agency for the transfer of customary land to individual ownership can be canceled, as long as they go through a data validation test process that is in accordance with the procedures, and the issuance of certificates of property rights is administratively flawed,” he said.
Separately, it was confirmed that there was an alleged invasion of customary land which was acknowledged by Monika Samallo, the attorney for the tribal chief Cristomus Awi Wamuar, Nafri village, Jayapura City, said that his party had arrived in Jakarta to deliver an open letter to President Jokowi and the National Police Chief.
“I just arrived in Jakarta, and brought a letter from Tribal Chief Awi Wamuar to be delivered to the President and the National Police Chief. This is a form of statement of his attitude towards his customary land which has become 50 certificates in the name of Monika Samallo. “said Jusuf Timesela in Jakarta, Thursday (18 /112021).
Jusuf hopes that the President and the National Police Chief will immediately address this issue before it is too late. “This issue must be immediately addressed by the President in order to provide certainty for the state to protect customary rights, besides that the National Police Chief cannot remain silent about the presence of unscrupulous members of his police force at the Papuan Regional Police who are involved in the seizure of the customary land rights of the Awi Wamuar tribe,” he concluded.[***]