<![CDATA[Customary land rights occupy an uneasy position in Indonesia’s legal order. The Constitution recognises customary law communities and their traditional rights, and the Basic Agrarian Law of 1960 acknowledges hak ulayat, yet both make recognition conditional on the continued existence of the community, on consistency with the national interest, and on the principles of the unitary state. At the same time, the state has pursued ambitious development programmes, including the Job Creation Law, the Land Bank Agency, and the construction of the new capital city Nusantara, that intensify demand for land. This article asks how Indonesian law can reconcile the protection of indigenous interests with national development. Using normative juridical research with statutory, case, and conceptual approaches, and drawing on scholarship published mainly between 2021 and 2026, it analyses first the normative architecture and structural tensions of recognition, and second the regulatory gaps and reform pathways for reconciliation. The analysis finds that recognition remains procedural, sectoral, and dependent on state determination; that Ministerial Regulation No. 14 of 2024 advances registration but excludes land already burdened by rights and channels ulayat land toward the Right of Management (HPL); and that development-oriented statutes continue to treat customary land as an obstacle rather than as a legally protected interest. The article argues for a rights-based and non-sectoral framework built on declaratory recognition, free, prior and informed consent, fair compensation and benefit sharing, accessible dispute resolution, and a proportionality test for any limitation of customary land rights.]]>
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