GALA NEWSPAPER – Indonesian Social Forestry Management Association (AP2SI) West Java encourage the government to completely change Law No. 41/1999 concerning Forestry for the sake of ecological restoration and the rights of the people as holders of forest areas.
As long as the law is not changed, they are pessimistic, agrarian reform Forestry will never happen and the Forest Area with Special Management (KHDPK) with Social Forestry (Perhutsos) will only be temporary access that can be withdrawn at any time by the government.
The Head of the West Java BPP AP2SI, Dedi Junaedi, said that forest management in Indonesia is still based on a legal framework that places the state as the main controller of forest areas.
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Thus, communities living in and around forest areas are not positioned as rights holders, but rather as parties who can only gain access through a permit mechanism granted by the state.
“"So, we are no longer talking about access, but rather about rights as mandated by law, as mandated by the Constitutional Court's decision number 35/PUU-X 2012. That's the hope," said Dedi at the National Webinar held online on Tuesday (June 30, 2026).
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“"So, we're no longer talking about access, but about rights. This means the state won't simply and haphazardly revoke rights under the pretext of evaluation, claiming violations without any involvement or clear analysis. Regarding the rights of all those in the community-managed area, it's the community that determines whether it's based on rights," Dedi continued.
In addition to demanding changes to the Forestry Law, Dedi also highlighted the narrowing of community rights to forest management by reducing the allocation of KHDPK land to around 583,629 hectares (ha) from the previous 922,769 ha or around 36.8 percent based on the Decree of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Number SK.287/MENLHK/PLA.2/4/2022 concerning the Determination of Forest Areas with Special Management.
“"I see a decline between 2016 and 2026, as areas that should have been managed by communities have been increased, but instead, they've been reduced. There's been a significant reduction in forest areas with special management managed by communities," he said.
Therefore, they are pushing for this forest area with special management to be rights-based and truly given to the community, not controlled by the state.
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“"Forest areas are positioned as areas completely under state authority. Meanwhile, communities are only granted access through the aforementioned permit scheme.
"In such a framework, social allocation was never designed to distribute rights but only to regulate access conceptually," he stressed.
And Dedi also hopes that the government can provide certainty as regarding the status of customary forests in the Constitutional Court decision number 35/PUU-X/2012 concerning the customary rights of customary law communities.
“"The Constitutional Court has confirmed that customary forests are no longer part of state forests, this is clear, and we hope this will also be given to social forestry communities," he said.
Therefore, he also encouraged all parties to work together to champion community management of forest areas. "So, we believe we must collectively push for this, not just whispering about access, but rather fully addressing community management rights," he emphasized.
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And as long as the state maintains full control over forest areas with primary control of key assets being in Forestry, he views the policy as not being appropriately called agrarian reform.
Because conceptually, said Dedi, agrarian reform requires the distribution of rights and assets, not just expanding access to the use of resources.
“"So, we hope we're no longer talking about access, but rather about rights as mandated by law," he concluded.
In addition to Dedi's attendance, the National Webinar on Agrarian Reform-Based Social Forestry, moderated by Agustian Nigraha, was also attended by the Chairman of PBHI West Java, Bung Astro, the 1TP5 Trisetkehutanan-FWI Coalition Tsabit Khairul Auni and the Wahana Giri Swadaya Hut Farmers Group-Iwan Susanti. ***
