This article aims to unravel a shift of control / ownership of communal land of the Malays of Deli
in North Sumatra. The commonly well-known communal lands, before the arrival of the Dutch
colonial, was still inherent with the authorities of villages and was evolutionarily taken over by
the foreign planters through concessionary contracts, which were dully signed by the Sultanate
of Deli and the said foreign planters. The Indonesian independence in 1945 and the period that
went beyond had in fact not contributed any improvement of the situation and instead it had
exacerbated social and legal relations between the Malays of Deli and their ancestral lands. The
said successful state laws had been so successful to keep these local natives away from their most
important resource of life, namely their very lands. “Deulayatisasi” through state laws that was
heavily oriented to the interests of capitalization to have seemingly been so successful to curtail
the long journey of communal land rights in this country that seemed to have been pioneered by
Van Vollenhoven during the early period of 20th century. The customary land law, in Indonesia, will
someday become a kind of a beautiful story in the course of historiographical laws of Indonesia.
Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap tentang peralihan kepemilikan tanah adat Melayu Deli
di Sumatera Barat. Sebelum kedatangan colonial Belanda, tanah adat melekat dengan aparat
desa dan secara perlahan diambil alih oleh pekebun asing melalui perjanjian konsesi yang
ditandatangani antara Kesultanan Deli dengan pekebun asing. Kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia
pada tahun 1945 dan masa setelahnya tidak berdampak pada perbaikan keadaan, dan sebaliknya
memperburuk hubungan social dan hukum antara Melayu Deli dan tanah leluhur mereka.
Undang-undang nasional berhasil menjaga masyarakat adat jauh dari sumber daya hidup yang
paling penting, yaitu tanah.“Deulayatisasi” melalui Undang-undang nasional berorientasi berat
pada kepentingan kapitalisasi tampaknya begitu berhasil untuk membatasi perjalanan panjang
dari hak ulayat di Negara ini yang dipelopori oleh Van Vollenhoven pada awal abad ke-20. Hukum
tanah adat di Indonesia pada suatu hari akan menjadi semacam cerita indah dalam perjalanan
hukum historiografis Indonesia.
