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Chief Justice Arief Hidayat received an audience from Epistema Institute, on Monday (30/5) in Delegation Room, the Constitutional Court Building. Photo PR/Ifa

 

 

 

Epistema Institute Delegation conducted an audience with Chief Justice Arief Hidayat, on Monday (30/5) in Delegation Room, the Constitutional Court Building. The audience aimed to deliver Indigenous People Simposium II result which held in May 16-17, 2016 in Jakarta.

“One of the fundamental discussions in the symposium is Constitutional Court Verdict No. 35/PUU-X/2012 that declared in May 16, 2013. It is fundamental because the verdict asserts the position of indigenous people. The verdict is a turning point on how the State perceive indigenous people,” said the executive director of Epistema Institute Yance Arizona.

Yance argued that the verdict is not fully implemented. He said that a lot of indigenous people were being criminalized because the people managed customary land. There were 217 indigenous people who criminalized under land conflict, he further exemplified.

Yance said that the verdict becomes main reference in encouraging regulation changes in both regional and national level. Although there is an national legislation program regarding indigenous people’s rights recognition, Epistema Institute worries that the verdict isn’t entirely implemented by State institutions within three years after its issued, Yance added.

Responding Epistema Institute’s concern, Chief Justice Arief Hidayat explained that a community is considered as indigenous if the community still adopts custom. For example, noken system in Papua which recognized as valid system in elecetion, Arief added. “But, only in certain region that the custom still alive,” said Arief.

Arief further explained that the Constitutional Court has different trait compared with the Supreme Court (MA) and district courts (PN). “The Constitutional Court doesn’t have executorial institution, unlike the Supreme Court and district courts that have such institution to enforce their verdicts,” said Arief.

Therefore, Arief said that the implementation of Constitutional Court verdicts depends on awareness and adherence of parties related in the verdicts. Arief argued that such implementation problem is happened in other countries’ constitutional court, not just happened in Indonesia. “Constitutional Court has issued verdicts, but the verdicts may not be implemented because the Court has no executorial institution to enforce the verdicts,” said him.

As known, Epistema Institute is established under legal reform idea of the Ecological and Community-based Organizations (HuMa). The Institute is a development of a semi-autonomous working unit HuMa’s Learning Center that established to encourage understanding on various schools of thought on law and community. The Learning Center aims to support community-based law reform movement, ecosystem sustainability, fair humanity values and cultural diversity. (Nano Tresna Arfana/lul/Prasetyo Adi N)

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