“So PT. Borneo Surya Mining Jaya is destroying the forest, destroying the rights of the indigenous people of Muara Tae, intimidating, pressuring the Muara Tae community not to defend the land, ”said Petrus Asuy, Muara Tae’s traditional leader.
It has been 46 years that Petrus Asuy and other Muara Tae indigenous peoples have defended their customary territories from seizure efforts by timber companies, palm oil plantations and mining. Muara Tae, a village in East Kalimantan, which is inhabited by the indigenous Dayak Benuaq Ohokng community. Of the 10.8 thousand hectares of the mapped Muara Tae customary area, only 6% are freed from the company’s concessions, the remaining 94% overlaps with license from palm oil and mining companies.
Before the company arrived, the people used to make a living from the forest. Water, rattan, wood, game, fish, honey and medicinal plants are available in abundance. Now people’s access to forests is cut off, and they live in suffering and uncertainty over their land.
A 2017 Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) study in eight provinces, including East Kalimantan, found that 1.52 million hectares of customary areas overlapped with company concessions. Often overlaps at the same location are a result of inaccurate information. The lack of access to information also often causes community groups to lose out in disputes / conflicts over control of forests and land.
This conflict can actually be resolved if the Cultivation Rights Title (HGU) document is made public. This HGU contains complete information such as the name of the right holder, location, area of the HGU, type of commodity, and company concession map. So the resolution of conflicts over company overlaps with customary territories can refer to this data. There will be no more, residents who are confused about the boundaries of the land.
FWI has been fighting for the transparency of HGU documents for more than 2 years, starting from requesting data to the Ministry of ATR / BPN, to cassation to the Supreme Court. FWI has won in the Supreme Court, so the Ministry of ATR / BPN must comply with the judge’s decision by opening the HGU document! But until now, the Ministry of ATR / BPN is still tightly undisclosed the document.
We need your support to urge the Minister of ATR / BPN Sofyan Djalil to comply with the law by opening HGU documents to the public. We believe that the opening of the HGU document will be able to speed up conflict resolution so that the Muara Tae Indigenous People do not have to suffer in a prolonged conflict.
Please help sign this petition:
https://buff.ly/2BHZ4c