Transcription
The Local Government of Pegunungan Bintang Regency's step to map the OKM cultural region is currently moving towards the stage of forming 17 apiwol communities, which will later play an important role in preserving existing cultural values. These 17 communities reside in an area of approximately 2 million hectares. This activity took place from July 8th to 10th, 2026, at the Soskat Oksibil building.
As observed by OKM TV, this activity is a continuation of previous activities and is not merely an administrative ritual. Instead, it represents an effort to build a legal and social foundation for indigenous communities that have long been marginalized in the dynamics of national development.
The Regent of Pegunungan Bintang, Spi Yan Bidana, told OKmin TV that the effort to form this customary territory is part of the constitutional rights of citizens, guaranteed by law, including the Special Autonomy Law for Papua, which signals protection for indigenous Papuans. However, it is more focused on preserving values for the infinite conservation of life as long as the ethnic group exists. That is used to improve oneself, so the core of it, and what is within it, does not contradict the state's constitution, which recognizes legal community units, and this must be formalized by being written, recognized, and established, so that the people feel strong and protected in accordance with the state's basic law and also the law specifically for empowerment and protection for Papuan people, not just the humans but their nature, everything.
Whatever it is, it must be spoken by humans so that there is life, there is justice. So, it cannot be done in the name of the state, in the name of the economy, and then marginalize the people. Because the essence of the state is to ensure how every citizen gets a decent livelihood in accordance with what is in the law and the ideals of a nation.
According to Regent Spay, in the era of Indonesia's independence, which has been ongoing for more than 7 decades, we can no longer ignore the significant contribution of indigenous communities in building the nation. This mapping becomes an important milestone to affirm that customary land is not state property given to the community, but rather a human right inherited from ancestors long before the independence of the Republic of Indonesia. According to him, indigenous communities have a very essential role in maintaining the ecological and cultural balance that characterizes the Indonesian nation.
Yes, from there, God gave this ethnic group a place, placed everything there, and they can process their education, their value settlement, how humans are, how plants are, how between what is not and what is, all of it. So, this is what we want to return so that the people grow, their language in the city, everything that exists is preserved to open up modern educational processes that already exist. So, there is a base there, everyone builds, and there is a flow of their language, their search, their customary ways of resolving matters, all of it.
Meanwhile, the head of the mapping team, Pastor Hendrik Hada PR, explained that this process is a historical milestone because it involves indigenous communities as the main subjects, not objects determined by outsiders. This activity is real work carried out by the community itself with the support of a team that only acts as facilitators. He said that cultural attire is mapped, recognized, and protected by the state through a process that is currently underway.
Therefore, the goal, I think, is clear for all of us: how this process gains internal recognition among the community itself. But the second is how this process ultimately gains recognition from the state for indigenous communities and their rights, especially the right to culture and its elements, as well as the right to customary land.
This is a report from Oksibil, OKM TV contributor Aquino Ningdana. Yeah.