Land, Custom, and Investment: Contesting Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Agrarian Conflicts in West Kalimantan

Abstract

The expansion of plantation and natural-resource investments in West Kalimantan has generated legal tensions between indigenous peoples’ rights, investment interests, and state authority over land. Agrarian conflicts in this context are not merely disputes over formal ownership but also involve identity, historical territorial control, and customary norms embedded within local communities. This study aims to examine how indigenous peoples’ rights are positioned in agrarian conflicts involving investment interests and how state legal mechanisms respond to claims based on customary law. The research adopts a socio-legal approach by combining normative analysis of land and indigenous peoples’ legal frameworks with empirical inquiry involving community members, government officials, and business actors. Legal pluralism is employed as an analytical framework to understand tensions between state law and customary norms. The study argues that agrarian conflicts are likely to persist when legal recognition of indigenous peoples remains primarily normative without operational mechanisms defining territories, legal subjects, and enforceable rights. Meaningful conflict resolution therefore requires participatory recognition mechanisms, customary-territory mapping, investment-process transparency, and dispute-resolution mechanisms capable of incorporating indigenous perspectives. Such an approach would strengthen legal certainty while simultaneously promoting social justice and more legitimate natural-resource governance.