Criminalization of the Maba Sangadji Indigenous Community’s Opposition to Nickel‐Mine Expansion and the Expropriation of Customary Lands in East Halmahera, North Maluku

Abstract

This study investigates the juridical repression of the Maba Sangadji Indigenous community’s opposition to PT Position’s nickel‐mining expansion in East Halmahera. After PT Position secured a 2,000-ha mining permit at the close of 2024 without complying with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) requirements, villagers deployed peaceful banners demanding a cessation of extractive activities. On 16 May 2025, law enforcement authorities detained twenty-seven residents and formally charged eleven under broadly construed statutes, notwithstanding the absence of any damage to mining infrastructure. A subsequent pretrial review by the Soasio District Court on 16 June 2025 annulled several arrests yet maintained the accused’s suspect status. Simultaneously, community members were stigmatized as “thugs” and accused of “possessing sharp weapons,” narratives that diverted scrutiny from systematic infringements of land rights and FPIC. Field observations further document the loss of 38 ha of customary forest and the pollution of six rivers, undermining local food security and exacerbating flood risks. Through a normative legal analysis supplemented by in‐depth interviews, this research elucidates the state–corporate collusion manifest in the instrumentalization of law (“lawfare”). It concludes with policy recommendations to strengthen FPIC enforcement, introduce anti-SLAPP provisions, amend the Mining Law to recognize customary land rights, and establish transparent public‐grievance mechanisms.