Bill 'must protect' indigenous people<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The future environment law should better protect
\nindigenous people's land rights, sociologist Loekman Soetrisno
\nsaid yesterday.<\/p>\n
At a discussion on the environment bill at the Indonesian
\nLegal Aid Foundation, Loekman of Gadjah Mada University said that
\npoverty alleviation and other issues should also be incorporated
\ninto the bill.<\/p>\n
The government-sponsored environment bill submitted to the
\nHouse for deliberation last April seeks to amend the outdated
\n1982 Environment Law.<\/p>\n
"The law should guarantee that indigenous people will not be
\nmarginalized in the course of local development," said Loekman,
\nalso head of Gadjah Mada University's Center for Research on
\nRural and Regional Development.<\/p>\n
Loekman said that existing laws, such as the 1972 Law on
\nTransmigration, the 1967 Law on Forestry and the 1967 law and
\nGovernment Regulation No. 23\/1982 on Irrigation, only addressed
\nissues concerning each particular ministry.<\/p>\n
"All these laws protect sectoral interests while people's
\ninterest are always sacrificed," he said.<\/p>\n
"They contradict the 1960 Agrarian Law which should be the
\nbasis for making laws concerning natural resources management."<\/p>\n
Loekman hailed the agrarian law as "progressive," particularly
\nfor giving people the legal right to own land.<\/p>\n
"The agrarian law also explains the social function of land,
\nwhich requires citizens to make use of their land according to
\nenvironmental protection principles," he said.<\/p>\n
Loekman said that, as long as the existing laws and the next
\nenvironment law failed to refer to the agrarian law, the
\ncountry's natural resources management problems would remain.<\/p>\n
He attributed the acute problem of poverty to the dwindling
\nsize of people's land holdings because of development, including
\nthe opening or expanding of mining and forestry concessions,
\nespecially outside Java.<\/p>\n
In Java, the marginalization of people was caused by
\nindustrialization and the development of mega-projects,
\nfactories, housing complexes and golf courses, Loekman said.<\/p>\n
"People who have been evicted from their land do not have the
\nskills to work in projects on their former land... Many have to
\ngo to the forest and exploit it. Who is to blame?" he said.<\/p>\n
"The marginalization of people must be addressed by the new
\nenvironment law, otherwise it will be irrelevant, and it would
\nalways be the people who will be blamed for any land disputes,"
\nhe said. (aan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bill-must-protect-indigenous-people-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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