(UCAN): The Catholic Church and rights activists in Flores Island, Indonesia, have called on the government to immediately resolve a long-running land boundary dispute involving a nature park and Indigenous villagers.
The call became louder after local Catholic tribal villager, Yohanes Flori, was acquitted twice by courts after being accused of illegal logging in the Ruteng Nature Tourism Park, a state-designated conservation area.
The 57-year-old was first acquitted by the district court in East Manggarai in April and the verdict was upheld by the Kupang High Court in the provincial capital of Christian-majority East Nusa Tenggara province, on May 26.
Both courts ruled that state prosecutors failed to prove the charges against the accused “lawfully and convincingly,” while ordering his release and the restoration of his rights.
Flori has dismissed the allegations of illegal logging and claimed the area was part of his community’s customary territory, where he built a home and earned a livelihood with permission from local leaders.
The ruling sends a clear message that Indigenous people should not be criminalised for non-commercial activities carried out on their ancestral land
Maximilianus Herson Loi
“The ruling sends a clear message that Indigenous people should not be criminalised for non-commercial activities carried out on their ancestral land,” said Maximilianus Herson Loi, Flori’s lawyer who heads the local chapter of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, a tribal rights body.
Flori’s case reflects a deeper crisis stemming from unresolved and contested boundaries between the park and the ancestral lands of tribal communities living in 70 adjoining villages, mostly Catholic farmers, he explained.
He said it also shows how the legal system often fails to incorporate tribal customary systems that have existed for generations. Unless the boundary conflict is properly resolved, people like Flori will continue to face harassment, he said.
He also urged the authorities to stop arresting and prosecuting people unless the dispute is resolved. Harassment of locals for allegedly violating rules in protected areas such as forest reserves is not new.
Flori’s neighbour, Mikael Ane, was first arrested in 2012 and jailed on the same charge. He was rearrested in 2023 and sentenced to one year and six months. However, the Supreme Court acquitted him, saying his actions did not constitute a criminal offense.
[The] case reflects a deeper crisis stemming from unresolved and contested boundaries between the park and the ancestral lands of tribal communities living in 70 adjoining villages
The Ruteng Nature Tourism Park covers more than 32,000 hectares, overlapping the ancestral land of tribal communities.
The land dispute turned fatal in 2004 when seven tribal farmers were shot dead by police during a tribal protest against the authorities’ destruction of coffee plants in the disputed land.
Since 2013, the government has launched a tripartite effort involving the government, tribal leaders and the Catholic Church to bring an end to the dispute. It has yet to yield results.
Father Simon Nama, from the Diocese of Ruteng, who has been involved with the dispute resolution process, said the Church is committed to finding a solution to the problem.
“Our authority is limited. But at its core, we support a comprehensive resolution of the boundary dispute—so that no more residents are arrested, and the area’s role as a conservation zone also gains certainty,” Father Nama said.
Dadang Suryana, an official from the Natural Resources Conservation Agency in East Nusa Tenggara, which oversees the park, said the agency has proposed reclassifying parts of the park to accommodate customary land claims.
The proposal includes reclassifying sections of conservation land where Indigenous communities have long lived and farmed, though it has yet to be formally implemented.
“This is a long process before an area is officially designated,” he said, acknowledging the need to revisit boundaries shaped by designations dating back to the colonial era.
