Identification of customary area and land parcelling thereon: case of Kasepuhan Banten Kidul, Indonesia

Practically, Indonesia is still experiencing the land tenure dualism to date. The formal land tenure system in Indonesia was formulated based on the customary land system as stated in the Basic Agrarian Law, which regulates land tenure in Indonesia. However, considering that there exist 23 customary regions in Indonesia, each with different customary land tenure arrangements, it is not clear which customary land tenure arrangement was adopted during the formulation of the Basic Agrarian Law. The only evidence of the adoption of the customary land tenure system within the Basic Agrarian Law is the similar ownership principles and the appearance of two types of tenure specifically designed to include the common characteristics of customary communities in Indonesia. Contrary evidence can be found in the fact that the Indonesian formal land tenure system has adopted the vertical separation of land and property registration, which contradicts the characteristic of customary land tenure arrangement in Indonesia. For initiating the assimilation of the customary land tenure system into the formal land tenure system in Indonesia, the study that is highlighted in this paper depicts the customary rule for defining the customary area and land parcelling thereon. The identified customary rules are further employed to formulate an initial version of a new model for land registration, which will be based on the customary land tenure arrangements. The area of this study is Kasepuhan Banten Kidul, Indonesia. This area differs from other customary communities on Java, since its indigenous community has lived nomadically within a forestry area of 70,000 Ha. Differing also from most nomadic customary communities in Indonesia, which are quite remote and far away from the centres of urbanisation and modernisation, the customary area of Kasepuhan Banten Kidul is surrounded by urbanised and modernised areas. Thus, this initial version of the model of assimilation of customary land tenure into the Indonesian formal land tenure deals with one of the customary land tenure types in Indonesia, which is the nomadic communal land tenure type.