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State must acknowledge existence of customary communities: Expert
Karsa Institute researcher Yando Zakaria has said the government must acknowledge the presence of autonomous customary communities in the country
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arsa Institute researcher Yando Zakaria has said the government must acknowledge the presence of autonomous customary communities in the country.
'Indonesia's customary communities can get state acknowledgement in the form of a regental or gubernatorial decree in their respective areas,' he said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Monday.
Yando said acknowledgment could also be obtained through Home Minister Decree No.52/2014, which stipulates that a regional head bears responsibility to acknowledge and register customary communities in his or her respective area.
Local authorities can also acknowledge customary communities by establishing a regional regulation (Perda) on the protection and acknowledgment of customary communities or by issuing a Perda on customary villages based on Law No.6/2014 on villages and Constitutional Court Decree No.35/2012, he went on.
'Once they become customary villages, it doesn't mean that individual ownerships in the villages is changed to collective customary ownership,' said Yando.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting to discuss the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)'s plan to declare six residential enclaves on Enggano Island in North Bengkulu regency, Bengkulu, customary villages.
Enggano Island has a population of 2,800 living in six villages, namely Apoho, Banjarsari, Kaana, Kahyapu, Malakoni and Meok, on its 40,000 hectares of land.
There are five native ethnic groups on the island, namely Kaahua, Kaharuba, Kaharubi, Kaitora and Kauno. Residents coming from areas outside the island are referred to as the Kamai ethnic group. (ebf)(+++)
