“As the party that proposed the bill, we have consistently included the Indigenous Peoples Bill as part of the priority legislative agenda,” he stated at the Parliamentary Complex in Jakarta on Friday.
According to Syukri, several important reasons underlie the drafting of the bill. First, the 1945 Constitution—specifically Article 18B paragraph (2) and Article 28I paragraph (3)—explicitly recognizes the existence of indigenous peoples and their traditional rights.
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He noted that the absence of a specific and robust legal framework has resulted in weak recognition and protection of indigenous rights, which often becomes the root of various issues and conflicts.
To address this, he emphasized that protecting vulnerable groups is a moral obligation deeply tied to religious values and norms.
He stressed that indigenous peoples must be seriously protected from the marginalization, discrimination, and criminalization they continue to face.
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Syukri also explained that issues concerning indigenous communities are currently scattered across various sectoral laws, such as the Forestry Law and the Village Law.
This fragmentation of regulations, he argued, leads to overlaps and inconsistencies that hinder indigenous peoples’ efforts to gain proper recognition and protection of their rights.
“The review and drafting of the Indigenous Peoples Bill is not just a routine legislative agenda item, but a strategic and critical step to address existing legal gaps and to realize genuine social justice for all indigenous peoples in Indonesia,” he concluded.
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Translator: Bagus Ahmad, Raka Adji
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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