In Sanggau District, West Kalimantan Province in Indonesia, more than 6,000 indigenous Iban Sebaruk people were involved in Institut Dayakologi’s project to strengthen their customary institution for an effective and credible customary law system.
They began with an assessment of the Iban Sebaruk Customary Administration as the highest legal authority of the indigenous territories under its jurisdiction. The workshop series stretched over a one-year period from June 2017 to May 2018 and was attended by customary administrators, indigenous leaders, women, and youth from fourteen villages (or kampongs). The project’s objectives were explained and disseminated to all participants for them to appreciate the need to strengthen customary institutions and customary laws.
Workshop topics varied: strategic planning and organizational development; the strength and credibility of the Iban Sebaruk Customary Administration; functions, operations, criteria, selection and appointment system of Ketemenggungan in accordance with current conditions; strengthening customary institutions and spatial planning of Iban Sebaruk Indigenous Territory; election and authorization of Temenggung and customary officials through deliberation and democratic process; leadership, protection of indigenous territory, critical law, human rights and indigenous peoples’ rights, and gender equality; and the existence of traditional institutions and Dayak culture. Subsequently, workshop results were disseminated in all 14 villages in the Iban Sebaruk region.
After the workshops, the group lobbied for policy formulation for the recognition of indigenous territory and customary institution of Iban Sebaruk as well as for the local government to authorize Ketemenggungan to implement customary law and protect indigenous territories. The indigenous territory of Iban Sebaruk Administrative District was registered for recognition as customary forest and village by the states after required documents, including maps, demographic data from the Iban Sebaruk customary administration, and a description of the customary institution structure were submitted to the local district government for verification.
Participatory mapping of indigenous territories took place, and all 14 village maps were ratified. During the year, the process of restitution and traditional rituals in all territories of Ketemenggungan were documented, and a book on customs and traditional institutions of the Iban Sebaruk indigenous peoples was written and published.
Significantly, there are now women representatives in the Iban Sebaruk administrative institution. Yuliana Ita said that, “The project was helpful especially for us women in this kampong because the trainings on gender equality made us realize our rights and position in society.” However, their participation and the role of youth in protecting the indigenous territory and managing natural resources based on local knowledge are still not optimized.
Customary law has become the basis for solving problems faced by indigenous peoples in the territory. For example, the new customary law that bans selling of land to outsiders is the result of an agreement among customary leaders.
Challenges continue to hound the project, however, including a land conflict between the Iban Sebaruk people and oil palm plantation companies. The latter’s expanding operations in indigenous territory has led to loss of indigenous peoples’ land. The presence of large-scale companies has affected the mindset of people, including customary leaders. Modernization and industrialization are pervasive, such that some consciously and unconsciously abandon their traditional knowledge. Despite awareness of customary law and indigenous knowledge, there is a lack of regeneration due to the youth‘s flagging interest and enthusiasm for knowing theircustoms, culture, and local knowledge. Also, some indigenous leaders are government-appointed and influenced, thus lack authority and independence and often ignore the community’s voice.
The villages in Iban Sebaruk districts are distant and the roads are bad, limiting access to far-flung areas. It was also difficult to gather the community for meetings, because most of them work as laborers in oil palm plantations or are farmers who spend significant time in their fields during the farming season.
The process for recognition of indigenous peoples’ territory and customary institutions is not over yet. The foremost challenge remains advocacy at the grassroots level, which requires capacity-building to empower and educate people on customary practices and enforcement of customary law. The Iban Sebaruk community has become braver and more confident in enforcing customary laws in cases of violations. The project has taught the communities that advocacy and lobbying with the government is vital for the legal and formal recognition of indigenous territory and forest to prevent land grabbing by outsiders, such as oil palm and mining companies. Customary administrative leader Yordanus Hatta shared that “As a trusted leader, I have to have a lot of courage to practice customary law. We gained knowledge about our rights and we also know that our customary law is being respected by the states. These make us more confident in enforcing the Iban Sebaruk customary law, as we punished an oil palm company that entered our indigenous territory without our permission.”
Customary law favors traditional healer Nyunta who said, “I feel like I am being accepted again and my knowledge is being appreciated by the community. As we know, traditional healing is often seen as black magic, especially by various religions coming to our village. Now, I feel more confident in practicing my indigenous knowledge to heal people.”
(The project “Strengthening the Customary Institution of Iban Sebaruk Indigenous Peoples for Realizing Effective and Credible Customary Law System” was implemented by the Institut Dayakologi from June 2017 to May 2018 with the support of PAWANKA Fund.)
