InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA — When the state records land as its own, where do communities that have lived there for generations belong? This question continues to surface in debates over agrarian law and land governance in Indonesia.

The issue resurfaced during an online discussion featuring Grahat Nagara, an agrarian law lecturer at Jentera School of Law and Senior Associate at Woods & Wayside International. Grahat described a recurring phenomenon he calls “institutionalized negligence,” where communities have long occupied land later designated as state forest areas.

“Many villages have existed there for generations, but legally they are treated as illegitimate. Communities are positioned as outsiders on their own land,” Grahat explained.

He outlined a three-stage pattern of state dominance: prolonged neglect, active denial of community rights through legal mechanisms, and eventual criminalization of community activities.

According to Grahat, this process constructs a dominant narrative that land inherently belongs to the state, while communities merely ‘occupy’ it—despite constitutional mandates that state control should serve public welfare.

“When that interpretation becomes narrow, agrarian law turns into an instrument of power rather than justice,” he said. (T2)

Source: InfoSAWIT Magazine October edition