Maula M Pelu, Ambon – A number of civil society organisations held a peaceful action at the Leimena traffic circle in Poka Village, Ambon City, on Friday October 11. This action was a critical reflection of a decade of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration, which according to protesters has left behind various problems for indigenous peoples.
Speaking to Tribun Ambon, field coordinator Pajihad revealed that during the ten years of the Widodo administration many of his policies have been more oriented towards the interests of business and the power of certain groups, so they have ignored the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples.
"This regime has betrayed the 1945 Constitution, reneged on its political promises, and failed to protect the ordinary people. There has been no good faith shown by the government to side with indigenous peoples. Most policies actually expand the business sector and perpetuate the power of the oligarchy", Pajihad said.
Several legal products such as the revisions of the Mineral and Coal Mining Law (UU Minerba), the Omnibus Law on Job Creation (UU Cipta Kerja), the National Capital City Law (UU IKN) and revisions to the Criminal Code (KUHP) have systematically denied the existence of more than 40 million indigenous peoples and their rights.
"The state continues to prioritise a legal scenario that oppresses indigenous peoples. Legal recognition of customary territories is often intricate and complicated", he added.
Pajihad also highlighted the government's weak political will in recognising the rights of indigenous peoples. The process of recognising of customary areas is often separated from the recognition of the indigenous peoples themselves and even regions that are the subject of land conflicts tend to be excluded from government targets.
According to Pajihad, government policies are mostly controlled by investors. "Because the direction of development and policies is controlled by investors. Where the DPR [Regional House of Representatives as the formulators of the law is controlled by businesspeople", he said.
The peaceful action also criticised the strengthening of executive power and the weakening of the legislative function under the Widodo administration.
Among the coalition however there is hope that there will be good faith on the part of the new government of president-elect Prabowo Subianto to enact the Draft Law on Community Customary Law (Masyarakat Hukum Adat).
"Regarding the Community Customary Law bill which has been held back in the DPR's Legislative Body (Baleg) for more than 10 years, there is hope in the era of the new president-elect's government that it can quickly enact the draft law on customary law", he said hopefully.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Masyarakat Sipil Gelar Aksi Damai di Ambon, Kritik Satu Dekade Pemerintahan Jokowi".]
