<![CDATA[The National Strategic Project (PSN) for the construction of the Padang–Sicincin Toll Road aims to improve connectivity and economic growth in West Sumatra, as regulated under Government Regulation No. 42 of 2021, which governs the implementation of PSN through four stages: planning, preparation, implementation, and handover of results. However, the land acquisition process for this project has given rise to various legal issues affecting community rights, including the customary land (tanah ulayat) of the Minangkabau indigenous people, as widely reported in the mass media. This study aims to analyze the land acquisition practices for the Padang–Sicincin Toll Road from the perspective of the Rechtsstaat in relation to community land rights, and to formulate legal protection for landowners in the land acquisition process for National Strategic Projects from the perspective of the Land Acquisition Law. This study employs a normative legal research method using legislative, conceptual, and case-based approaches. Legal materials were obtained through a literature review and analyzed qualitatively. The results indicate that a number of Rechtsstaat indicators have not been adequately fulfilled, including compensation determinations that do not sufficiently reflect fair market value, public consultations that have not achieved their substantive function, procedural facilitation for National Strategic Projects that has not been balanced by proportional control mechanisms, and the use of consignment (konsinyasi), which is fundamentally not a forum for dispute resolution. Furthermore, legal protection for landowners is formulated through three key measures: strengthening the principle of deliberation (musyawarah) as a mandatory and meaningful mechanism, granting specific recognition and protection to customary (ulayat) land, and affirming that the state's right of control under Article 2 of the Basic Agrarian Law must be interpreted consistently with the principle of Rechtsstaat — namely, directed toward the greatest prosperity of the people under Article 33(3) of the 1945 Constitution, rather than as absolute authority to override the substantive rights of the community.]]>
