After more than a decade of legislative stagnation, the Indigenous Peoples Bill (RUU Masyarakat Adat) has returned to the 2025 Priority National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).
Academics and activists who have long advocated for the recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights, including Dr. Yance Arizona, a lecturer at the UGM Faculty of Law (FH UGM) and an expert in customary law, have welcomed the decision.
The bill is seen as a critical opportunity to strengthen the legal standing of indigenous communities within Indonesia’s national legal framework. After nearly 15 years of waiting, many hope the bill will be seriously deliberated and finally enacted.
According to Dr. Arizona, the passage of the bill is an urgent matter. He hoped this opportunity would not be wasted as it had been in previous legislative periods. With the bill included in the priority list of Prolegnas, the public expects a stronger political commitment to finalize the long-overdue legislation.
“We should appreciate that the House of Representatives (DPR) is still paying attention to this bill, despite slow progress. The bill initiative has existed since 2010 and was included in the priority list in 2011. So, it has been about 14 or 15 years in the DPR, but it has yet to be passed,” he said.
Despite its lengthy history, the bill’s current draft is still considered inadequate. Dr. Arizona believes that the draft fails to address the overlapping regulations that often hinder the recognition of indigenous communities. He recommends a codification approach through the omnibus method, allowing related sectoral laws to be consolidated and harmonized. This, he explained, would result in a more coherent legal system and reduce conflicts between contradictory regulations. Without substantial reformulation, the bill risks becoming a weak legal product with poor implementation.
“Key principles need to be clearly stated in the bill, including simplified processes to register indigenous communities, land legality, and the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC),” he explained.
He added that these principles are in line with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted in 2007 and signed by Indonesia. Unfortunately, many provisions of UNDRIP have yet to be concretely implemented in national regulations. The bill presents a strategic opportunity to translate those international commitments into domestic legal policy.
The Indigenous Peoples Bill is also regarded as a potential solution to ongoing conflicts between customary and state laws. Currently, Indigenous issues are regulated under various sectoral laws, including those governing forestry, plantations, mining, and education, which often result in legal overlap and uncertainty. He argued that harmonizing customary law with state law should be framed as a complementary relationship rather than a contradictory one. This would help ensure Indigenous communities are no longer marginalized within the national legal system.
“This bill is expected to solve that issue. It could be the answer, because so many normative conflicts remain unresolved due to the lack of formal recognition of indigenous peoples and the customary laws they uphold,” emphasized Dr. Arizona.
The issue of investment is frequently cited as a reason for delaying the bill’s passage. However, Dr. Arizona argued that the assumption that indigenous peoples hinder investment is deeply flawed. He explained that resistance often arises because investments proceed without acknowledging indigenous land rights, leading to injustice and conflict. Legal recognition of indigenous land from the outset, he asserted, would make development more inclusive and less prone to friction. He said justice must serve as the foundation of all development policies involving indigenous territories.
“Indigenous peoples are not anti-investment or anti-development, as long as it does not harm them,” he stated.
As a legal scholar and activist, Dr. Arizona urged DPR and the government not to reuse outdated drafts that no longer reflect current realities. He called for a new draft that aligns with global developments and addresses the evolving local needs of indigenous communities. The issue, he stressed, is not only one of legal substance but also of political will and the state’s commitment to fulfilling its constitutional mandate to protect indigenous peoples.
“If we use the old draft, the problems won’t be solved. We need to draft a new bill that reflects current national and regional developments,” he stated.
He also underscored the importance of ensuring a participatory legislative process, particularly for indigenous communities that often lack access to adequate information. Meaningful participation, he argued, must go beyond formality and involve active engagement from planning to evaluation. The government must adopt a multilingual approach and involve local facilitators to ensure indigenous voices are genuinely represented in the legislative process.
“This is also a challenge for the government to make the drafting of the Indigenous Peoples Bill a model of participatory legislation that truly addresses the needs of communities across diverse regions,” he concluded.
Author: Triya Andriyani
Post-editor: Lintang Andwyna
Photographer: Donnie