Divers Paths to Justice - English - Forest Peoples Programme

Divers Paths to Justice: Legal pluralism and the rights of indigenous peoples inSoutheast Asia6. Legal pluralism in Indonesia’s land and natural resourcetenureA summary of presentationsMyrna A. SafitriIntroductionSupported by the Forest Peoples Programme, Learning CentreHuMa/Epistema Institute and partners carried out socio-legal researchconcerning land and natural resource tenure in Indonesia in 2010. Theresearch aimed to understand how various socio-political contexts resultedin different understandings and uses of legal pluralism in order to securecommunities’ rights to land and natural resources. With this in mind, weundertook a national legislative review and three case studies on districtsthat represent different social and legal problems: Pidie of Aceh,Sigibiromaru of Central Sulawesi and Lembata of East Nusa Tenggara.Findings were presented by Indonesian researchers - Myrna Safitri, Andiko,Taqwaddin Husein and Dahniar - and by a local parliamentarian, BedionaPhilipus, at a Regional Meeting on Securing Rights through Legal Pluralismin Southeast Asia, held in Bangkok by Forest Peoples Programme andRECOFTC in September 2010. This paper summarises those presentations.It consists of the following sections: (i) trends in legal pluralism in colonialand contemporary Indonesia; (ii) conflicts of law regarding land and naturalresources; (iii) different sources of law to build Aceh legal pluralism; (iv)complex societies and their impact on conflicts and legal pluralism inSigibiromaru; (v) efforts to use customary law in policy advocacy inLembata.Indonesia’s legal pluralism: different understandings in colonial timesand in the presentLegal pluralism has been conceptualised as a situation where differentsources of law exist in a community. Tensions between laws usually take126