Urgensi RUU Masyarakat Hukum Adat dalam Menyongsong KUHP Baru 2026

Abstract

Recognition of indigenous legal communities is a constitutional mandate that has not yet been fully implemented through comprehensive regulations in the form of laws. This condition becomes increasingly crucial with the upcoming enactment of the new Criminal Code (KUHP) in 2026, which normatively recognizes the living law within society, including customary law. This article aims to analyze the urgency of the Draft Law on Indigenous Law Communities and its relation to the new Criminal Code, particularly in ensuring legal certainty, protection of human rights, and the management of legal pluralism in Indonesia. This research employs a normative legal research method with legislative, conceptual, and historical approaches. The study results show that the Bill on Indigenous Law Communities has a strategic role as a normative foundation for the implementation of living law provisions in the new Criminal Code, as well as an instrument for the protection of indigenous peoples from potential criminalization and structural injustice. However, the implementation of this bill faces various challenges, such as issues of indigenous community recognition, overlapping authorities, economic-political interests, and limited institutional capacity. Therefore, a comprehensive, participatory, and long-term oriented implementation strategy is needed so that the ratification of the Indigenous Peoples Law Bill can truly support the reform of a just, inclusive, and Pancasila-based national criminal law.