The Unfinished Debate: Socio-Legal and Science Discourses on Forest Land-Use and Tenure Policy in 20th Century Indonesia1 2

In recent years, policy research in Indonesia has questioned the mandate of the state to control and manage the forest. This question developed following several conflicts and disputes over forest land reported during the reformation period in 1998. Many authors argue that the present uncertainty in state forest management and control goes back to an unfinished debate during the Dutch Colonial Period. In Java, state forest areas today cover 24.26 % of land or 3,009,779 hectares, consisting of forest production, forest protection and forest reserves. This is almost equal in size with the 3,057,200 ha of Java’s land designated as state forest by the Dutch colonial administration in 1946. This ongoing application of these past designations brings us to question the arguments and justifications behind the Dutch Colonial Government’s decisions. This paper explores the scientific discourse on the issue of forest land-use and its implications for land tenure policy during the colonial period and current policy framework of forest tenure