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| Dr. H.C. Cornelis guestions Planned Forest Boundary Marking (PKH) in Banying Village. Doc. the author. |
Cornelis, a member of Commission XII of the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, has raised concerns over a plan by the Satuan Tugas Penertiban Kawasan Hutan (Forest Area Enforcement Task Force, Satgas PKH) to install boundary markers in Banying Village, located in Sengah Temila District, Landak Regency.
The proposed move has triggered strong opposition from the local Dayak indigenous community.
According to Cornelis, installing boundary markers in an area that has long been recognized as a traditional settlement risks undermining the community’s sense of justice.
Cornelis emphasized that Banying is not a newly established settlement but rather an ancestral village that has been inhabited for generations and formally acknowledged by the state.
Ancestral Village Marked with Boundary Stakes
“Their village has been staked out. That is the land of their ancestors,” Cornelis said on Wednesday (March 4, 2026).
Cornelis referred to the West Kalimantan Governor’s Decree No. 100 of 1974 as a legal basis for the government’s recognition of the village’s existence. He also noted that during the administration of Soeharto, the second President of Indonesia, the village received a rural subsidy of Rp100,000 from the central government.
“If the village was acknowledged and even received state subsidies at the time, it means the state recognized its existence. It should not now be treated as though it never existed,” he said.
Indigenous Dayak Community Rejects the Plan
Earlier, on Tuesday (March 3, 2026), approximately 500 members of the Dayak indigenous community in Banying Village publicly expressed their rejection of the planned installation of boundary markers by Satgas PKH.
The protest took place openly, with residents displaying posters, voicing their concerns, and erecting pamakabng, a traditional symbolic marker used by the community to signal resistance.
Residents believe that the installation of boundary signs could threaten their ancestral lands, which have long served as their primary source of livelihood. For them, the rejection represents a defense of customary land rights that have been passed down through generations.
Call for a Historical and Legal Review
Cornelis, who previously served as President of the Majelis Adat Dayak Nasional (MADN), urged authorities to avoid enforcing forest management policies through approaches that ignore the historical presence and customary rights of indigenous communities.
He cautioned that the state must proceed carefully to ensure that policy enforcement does not appear repressive or trigger social conflict at the grassroots level.
“If this is indeed an old settlement that has long been legally recognized, then the legal basis must be reviewed carefully. The state must not create the impression that people’s rights are being taken away,” Cornelis said.
As of the time this report was filed, no official statement had been issued by Satgas PKH in response to the demands and objections raised by the indigenous Dayak community.
