Recognition and Protection of Indigenous Communities under Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 52 of 2014: Problems of Implementation at the Local Level

Abstract

Recognition and protection of Indigenous Communities in Indonesia depend on the extent to which constitutional recognition is translated into effective legal and administrative mechanisms at the local level. Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 52 of 2014 establishes a recognition mechanism through identification, verification and validation, recommendation, and determination by the competent local government. This study examines the recognition and protection mechanism under Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 52 of 2014 and analyses the institutional and regulatory factors affecting its implementation at the local level. The study employs normative legal research using statutory, conceptual, and case approaches. Primary and secondary legal materials are analysed qualitatively and prescriptively through Legal Effectiveness Theory and Legal System Theory. The analysis identifies institutional capacity, the functioning of Indigenous Community Committees, evidentiary requirements, local government decision-making, and fragmented regulatory arrangements as the principal implementation issues documented in the reviewed cases and literature. The analysis further demonstrates that recognition of an Indigenous Community does not necessarily result in comprehensive protection of customary rights when the recognition process remains disconnected from regulatory regimes governing customary land, forestry, customary villages, and spatial planning. Accordingly, the study proposes strengthening procedural certainty, institutional capacity, community participation, supervision, cross-sectoral coordination, and regulatory synchronization to ensure that formal recognition can serve as a coherent legal basis for the continuing protection of Indigenous Communities and their traditional rights.