For more than a decade and a half, Indigenous Peoples have been waiting for a legal umbrella that expressly recognizes and protects their rights. However, until today, the ratification of the Indigenous Peoples Bill (RUU) is still pending. In the midst of various agrarian conflicts, the seizure of customary territories, and the criminalization that continues to occur, the pressure for the state to immediately fulfill the mandate of the constitution has strengthened again.
On May 23, 2026, at the office of the DPD RI Office of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was held entitled “The Urgency of the Indigenous Peoples Bill According to the Constitution and the Role of DPD RI.” The activity, which was initiated by the Deputy Chairman of DPD RI for Regional Autonomy, Politics, and Law, Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Hemas, became a space for dialogue between parliament, academics, and civil society to reaffirm the importance of accelerating the ratification of the Indigenous Peoples Bill.
The forum affirmed DPD RI’s commitment to continue to encourage the recognition, protection and respect of Indigenous Peoples and their traditional rights through the Indigenous Peoples Bill.
Through various studies, aspiration absorption, and political support, DPD RI considers it is time for the state to provide legal certainty for millions of Indigenous Peoples who have been in vulnerable positions.
For too long, Indigenous Peoples have lived in uncertainty on their own land. In many areas, they maintain forests, rivers, seas, and living spaces for generations, but at the same time continue to face the threat of land grabbing, criminalization, and eviction in the name of development.
In the forum, the representative of the Coalition to Guard the Indigenous Peoples Bill, Abdon Nababan, emphasized that the ratification of the Indigenous Peoples Bill is no longer just a political need, but a constitutional mandate that has been ignored for too long.
“The state should be there to recognize and protect Indigenous Peoples, not to keep them in an obscure (gray) position: they are acknowledged, but their rights are not really protected,” Abdon said.
So far, recognition of Indigenous Peoples is still scattered in various complex sectoral regulations, layered, and often collided. As a result, many indigenous communities have struggled to gain official recognition of their territory and identity. On the ground, these conditions pave the way for agrarian conflicts, the expansion of extractive industries, and various forms of human rights violations.
In front of the DPD RI, Abdon described the situation of Indigenous Peoples today very simply but painfully, “Indigenous Peoples are often foreigners in their own land.”
The sentence is not just a metaphor. In various regions, many Indigenous Peoples live in areas rich in natural resources, but instead experience poverty. Customary forests turned into company concessions, ancestral land turned into mining areas or large plantations, while the people who had lived there for generations were even considered to be hindering development. Not a few are also criminalized when defending their own customary territories.
In fact, the 1945 Constitution has expressly mandated the recognition and respect of indigenous peoples through Article 18B paragraph (2) and Article 28I paragraph (3). The Constitution states that the state recognizes the unity of customary law communities and their traditional rights and respects the cultural identity of traditional communities. But to this day, the mandate has not really been present in real protection.
The journey of the Indigenous Peoples Bill itself has been going on for 16 years. Since it was included in the Priority National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) in 2014, the Indigenous Peoples Bill has continued to move from one period of legislation to the next without ever being successfully passed. In fact, various public consultation processes have been carried out in many regions, and support has come from various circles, including Komnas HAM, Komnas Perempuan, academics, civil society organizations, and a number of parliamentarians.
This bill does not only talk about identity recognition. More than that, the Indigenous Peoples Bill seeks to ensure the protection of rights to customary territories, culture, customary law, a healthy environment, and the collective rights of indigenous women. It also regulates dispute resolution mechanisms, protection from criminalization, restitution for past rights violations, and empowerment of indigenous youth and women.
According to Abdon, Indigenous Peoples’ rights to customary territories are not a “gift” from the state. “Customary rights are attached. It does not disappear unless the Indigenous People become extinct or give up their own rights,” he explained.
Therefore, the state should not complicate recognition with long and convoluted bureaucratic procedures. The Indigenous Peoples Bill is actually expected to be a way to present a simpler, participatory, and more inclusive recognition mechanism for Indigenous Peoples.
On the same occasion, Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Mangkubumi, as the next speaker, encouraged the Indigenous Peoples Bill to be passed immediately this year. This encouragement arises in the midst of increasing agrarian conflicts and various problems faced by Indigenous Peoples in various regions of Indonesia. .
The ratification of the Indigenous Peoples Bill is not just the addition of a new legal product in the Indonesian legal system. More than that, it is important to ensure that Indigenous Peoples no longer live in fear of losing their own land, identity, and living space.
Because when Indigenous Peoples lose their territory, what is lost is not only land. What is also lost are knowledge, language, history, relationship with nature, and the future of the next generation.
And the most fundamental question that the country needs to answer today is until how long should Indigenous Peoples continue to wait to be recognized as an integral part of this republic?
Disclaimer: This article was written in Indonesia and has been translated by Google Translate. In case of dispute or discrepancy, the original language of the article should prevail.
