Legal anthropology expert from Unair: without the law on indigenous peoples, 21 ethnic groups could become extinct in the IKN

MidLand, Jakarta – 14 years have passed since the bill Indigenous peoples it did not gain approval from the House of Representatives. Legal anthropologist Airlangga UniversitySri Endah Kinasih, believes that the government and legislators of the DPR do not consider the issue of indigenous peoples important.

“Indigenous communities are considered ancient. Indeed, indigenous peoples have magical religious values ​​that they maintain. “This is what the government doesn’t understand,” Endah said in a written statement received by Tempo, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024.

Bill on indigenous peoples o Indigenous Law Communities is a bill proposed since 2003 and its academic text was formulated in 2010. According to Endah, controversies involving indigenous communities occurred due to the bill’s failure to pass.

Endah said the state has not yet understood what the concepts are in indigenous communities, so the involvement of traditional and religious leaders in legalizing these norms is necessary. “This bill is the only way for the country to understand indigenous people. “The bill doesn’t work because traditional, religious and expert leaders are not involved,” she said.

So far, Endah said, it appears that the interests of the state are taking over the interests of indigenous peoples. According to him, development should be achieved through a process of bottom-up dialogue involving indigenous communities, not just on the basis of state interests.

“So when you build there has to be dialogue. You have to invite religious leaders, traditional leaders, experts. For example, in Moluccan society, there is the concept of sasi or the prohibition of harvesting ahead of time. “Well, this is their tradition of protecting their ecosystem,” he said.

“The government needs to understand concepts like this, not just build here, build there, offset here, offset there. “That’s not the case,” Endah added.

A development concept that does not involve the participation of indigenous communities, according to him, is the development of the IKN or Archipelago Capital. According to Endah, the development of the IKN could cause the extinction of 21 ethnic groups.

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According to him, this potential arises from the fact that indigenous communities have not been involved and the state does not understand the concepts that exist in society.

“There are 21 ethnic groups, as we know, and when they become extinct, not only the ethnic groups, but also the flora and fauna will disappear. Because the ancients had to pay attention to ecology. “If these ethnic groups became extinct, the traditions based on ecology would also be lost,” he said.

According to Endah, the state should protect and defend indigenous populations. Because, he said, as time goes by, Indonesia itself has fewer and fewer indigenous communities. Not all of this serves the development of the country, there is a local wisdom that must be maintained.

Another example of ignoring people’s rights, Endah said, is that people living in the forest do not have KTP (residential identification cards), even though they lived in the forest long before Indonesia became independent.

“They were born first. They already own the land. It is believed that indigenous peoples do not have rights in the form of land certificates, it is not considered their right. In fact, when a house or a well is built, the date of construction is always indicated “This is authentic proof, rather than a state certificate,” he said.

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