resources belong to Indonesia, thus the state can use these for the people’s welfare. Those who own land on which a mining concession was given would also have to allow the mining activity but would be entitled to compensation. This provision thus clearly states that the use of the land must be allowed even though the land has been occupied and used by indigenous peoples. Trends The government replaced the BFL of 1967 with a new forestry law in 1999 that stipulated new terms, ‘state forest’ and ‘community forest.’ The law also created a category of customary law although the dfinition was controversial. It said that “customary forest was state forest in indigenous and tribal peoples’ territory,” which means that customary forests remained controlled by the state. Accelerating the process were government policies that favored intense agricultural expansion and unabated entry of foreign investors that were attracted to Indonesia’s vast land and natural resources, a good portion of which, however, are in lands occupied by indigenous peoples. This definition was challenged in March 2012, following the court petition of AMAN, the Indigenous People Union of Kanagarian Kuntu, Kampar district, along with the Indigenous People Union of Kesepuhan Cisitu, Lebak Banten to review Law No. 41 on Forestry, which provides that all forests within Indonesia and their resources belong to the state. The test application involved two issues – the existence of customary forests and the recognition of the existence of indigenous peoples. The Constitutional Court ruled, among others, that while the state has full authority over state forest management, its control over customary forests is limited. Importantly, there was confirmation that indigenous peoples are rights owners. In essence, the Constitutional Court emphasized that indigenous peoples indeed have rights and obligations. The process of marginalizing Indonesia’s indigenous peoples started as early as 1870 when the Dutch government imposed Agrarische Besluit, stating that hak ulayat of indigenous peoples over their lands were no longer in place in favor of the government. The years 1950 to 1975, for example, saw the expansion of agriculture development to forest lands to increase national output. Logging concession permits were likewise granted to companies to further boost the national economy. This expansion picked up pace after the Asian economic crisis of 1997/1998 that saw largescale land grabbing or the taking over of land – including customary land – for commercial interests such as the establishment of extensive palm oil plantations. The government facilitated the process by allowing the leasing of state lands to foreign corporations. Unfortunately for the indigenous peoples, part of the land that was dedicated to palm oil plantation expansion was on their land. Palm oil is considered one of Indonesia’s major export products. Based on the data on national plantation areas, the area dedicated to national palm oil plantations as of 2000 was 4,158,079 ha (MoA 2009). In 2012, this increased to 9,560,000 ha (Palm Plantations, 2012). Lok Niti 65