Senator Filep Wamafma urges Papua customary rights protection in Agrarian Reform Bill

Senator Filep Wamafma, Chairman of Committee III of the Regional Representative Council (DPD RI), is calling for the Agrarian Reform Bill to explicitly strengthen the protection of customary land rights (hak ulayat) for indigenous communities in Papua.

Wamafma suggests that the bill should include a specific chapter dedicated to agrarian reform within Papua's special autonomy regions to align with Law Number 2 of 2021 regarding Papua's Special Autonomy. He emphasizes that the regulation must recognize, respect, and protect indigenous rights to prevent structural agrarian conflicts and land inequality.

A key point of the proposal is to distinguish between state redistribution land and customary territories held by indigenous people based on ancestral rights. Wamafma argues that the absence of individual land certificates should not be used as a basis to claim that indigenous communities lack rights to their territory. He further recommends that the government implement rigorous identification, verification, and mapping of customary lands, including mandatory consultation and community consent, before issuing any land permits or concessions.