On Wednesday (19/3/2025), Law and Social Justice Study Centre (LSJ) Faculty of Law UGM held a discussion with Djojodigoeno Adat Law Study Centre, Greenpeace, and Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat regarding post examination for the case of Suku Awyu.
The discussion with the title “Ke Mana Suku Awyu Mencari Keadilan Pasca Putusan MA?” (Where Do Suku Awyu Seek for Justice After the Supreme Court Decision?) was attended by I Gusti Agung Wardana (Environmental Law and Climate Crisis Expert) as examiner and moderated by Andika Putra (Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Law). This discussion was also attended by 5 respondents, namely Almonika Cindy Fatika Sari, Gispa Ferdinanda Warijo, Tigor Hutapea, Muhammad Zakiuddin Al Farisi, and Zaky Badruzzaman.
This discussion was opened by Tigor Hutapea, the legal advisor for the Masyarakat Hukum Adat (MHA) (Adat Law Community) Awyu, with explaining the case timeline of Suku Awyu in seeking for their rights over the living space that was threatened due to the expansion of the palm oil plantation business. The discussion was continued with the presentation from Agung Wardana regarding the indication of excluding the Aywu community and how the MHA becoming the actor that contributed the least in the climate change, but also the same community that receive the biggest impact on this business. The presentation by the examiner was also highlighted the opinions from the majority of the judges that tend to be formalistic and failed to see issue from the structural aspect that caused the lawsuits regarding their right to living space to be ignored.
During the session of the respondent, Gispa Ferdinanda Warijo, the students that represented Papua, criticized the government regarding the rights abandonment for MHA in Papua. He stated that the existence of MHA was dependent on the adat area that have been inherited by their ancestors. He believed that the loss of the adat area is equivalent to removing the identity of the MHA themselves. He also highlighted the structural and knowledge gap of MHA.
The discussion was an active two-way interaction. The participants were enthusiastically asking regarding the issue with Suku Awyu and the respondents were comprehensively answering the question as well. On the last session, Herlambang P. Wiratraman, the Head of LSJ FH UGM, expressed his frustration regarding the decision tat limited the room for adat law community in seeking for justice, with highlighted the mistakes in the application of the principle of vertical invalidity. He also explained that the the decision of PT TUN and MA was wrong, because they were limiting their access to justice and only based on the formal reasoning without considering a comprehensive justice substances.
Author : Patricia Nerissa Krisna Putri (LSJ)
