W

ith only two weeks remaining in the five-year term of Democratic Party lawmaker Himmatul Alyah Setiawaty, she admits there is only a slim chance that the recognition and protection of the rights of indigenous people (PPHMA) bill will be passed into law.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, Himmatul, who has been leading the House of Representatives special committee (Pansus) in the bill'€™s deliberation since last year, quickly blamed the government'€™s lack of commitment as the reason behind her committee'€™s slow progress.

'€œHonestly, I'€™m so disappointed with the [bill'€™s deliberation] progress,'€ she said.

'€œWe have had to cancel several hearings [to deliberate the bill] since the government'€™s representatives, especially those from the Forestry Ministry, weren'€™t able to attend due to conflicting schedules.'€

Although the government has already submitted the list of issues (DIM) of the bill to the committee, Himmatul said both parties had yet to arrange a follow up meeting to discuss it despite the fact that the current House would hold its last plenary meeting on Sept. 30.

Himmatul said the bill'€™s special committee and the government'€™s representatives would need at least two hearings to wrap up the bill before seeking lawmaker approval in the plenary meeting.

'€œHowever, should the bill fail to be passed into law during this [House] period, we can request that the lawmakers who have been reelected include the bill in next year'€™s National Legislation Program (Prolegnas),'€ said Himmatul, who unfortunately failed to secure her reelection bid in the April 9 legislative election.

The PPHMA bill, which is among the House'€™s 66 priority bills in the 2014 Prolegnas, covers, among other things, the definition of an indigenous community and the much-needed procedure to settle customary land disputes.

Once it is passed into law, the PPHMA bill, which was initially proposed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction in 2012, will provide a stronger legal basis for the settlement of rampant customary land disputes in the country.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has appointed the Forestry Ministry, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the Home Ministry to work alongside the House in the bill'€™s deliberation, with the Forestry Ministry coordinating the government'€™s representatives.

The bill, however, could also face a gloomy future after the House'€™s Legislation Body (Baleg) chairman, Ignatius Mulyono, recently said the House would likely drop at least 40 priority bills due to the current lawmakers'€™ limited time in office.

Meanwhile, Himmatul herself admitted that her limited knowledge about traditional communities and customary land issues had made it difficult for her to take initiative.

'€œAs a non-Baleg member, I didn'€™t take part in the early stage of the bill'€™s deliberation and also missed the discussion on the bill'€™s academic drafts,'€ she said, adding that she had been appointed to lead the special committee promptly after joining it.

Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto quickly denied that the ministry was reluctant to wrap up the bill in the near future.

'€œIt is important for the ministry to see that customary forests stay preserved. That can be achieved through many ways, including by passing the PPHMA bill into law,'€ he said.

Hadi, however, stressed that both lawmakers and the government were faced with the challenge of providing proper details on the bill.

'€œWe have found at least 40 issues in the bill that need to be discussed. One of them is the important issue of how to determine the borders of customary forests since it is clear that the protection of indigenous communities must also be in line with our positive laws,'€ he said.

In May last year, the Constitutional Court approved a judicial review filed by the Indigenous People'€™s Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) that challenged several articles in the 1999 Forestry Law that prevent indigenous people from collectively using natural resources in their territories, saying that they contradicted the Constitution.

The court also restricted the authority of the state over customary forests, saying that they were part of indigenous rights as they were located in the territories of indigenous people.

In response to the court ruling, agrarian reform activists have demanded that the government immediately issue supporting legal framework to preserve the rights of traditional communities over their customary land.

Environmental policy expert Noer Fauzi Rachman, however, said the lawmakers'€™ and government'€™s lack of focus prior to the national leadership succession in October would prevent the country'€™s indigenous people from receiving formal recognition of their right to manage customary land from the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration.

Noer is urging the public to call on president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, who will be inaugurated on Oct. 20, to immediately implement his campaign promises on the indigenous people issue, which include the passing of the PPHMA bill into law and the establishment of an independent commission to plan and oversee government efforts to protect and empower the rights of indigenous people.

'€œOur hopes now lie in the hands of the president- and vice president-elect since they promised that they will commit to protecting and empowering the rights of indigenous people,'€ he said.