This article aims to unravel a shift of control / ownership of communal land of the Malays of Deliin North Sumatra. The commonly well-known communal lands, before the arrival of the Dutchcolonial, was still inherent with the authorities of villages and was evolutionarily taken over bythe foreign planters through concessionary contracts, which were dully signed by the Sultanateof Deli and the said foreign planters. The Indonesian independence in 1945 and the period thatwent beyond had in fact not contributed any improvement of the situation and instead it hadexacerbated social and legal relations between the Malays of Deli and their ancestral lands. Thesaid successful state laws had been so successful to keep these local natives away from their mostimportant resource of life, namely their very lands. “Deulayatisasi” through state laws that washeavily oriented to the interests of capitalization to have seemingly been so successful to curtailthe long journey of communal land rights in this country that seemed to have been pioneered byVan Vollenhoven during the early period of 20th century. The customary land law, in Indonesia, willsomeday 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 Delidi Sumatera Barat. Sebelum kedatangan colonial Belanda, tanah adat melekat dengan aparatdesa dan secara perlahan diambil alih oleh pekebun asing melalui perjanjian konsesi yangditandatangani antara Kesultanan Deli dengan pekebun asing. Kemerdekaan Republik Indonesiapada tahun 1945 dan masa setelahnya tidak berdampak pada perbaikan keadaan, dan sebaliknyamemperburuk hubungan social dan hukum antara Melayu Deli dan tanah leluhur mereka.Undang-undang nasional berhasil menjaga masyarakat adat jauh dari sumber daya hidup yangpaling penting, yaitu tanah.“Deulayatisasi” melalui Undang-undang nasional berorientasi beratpada kepentingan kapitalisasi tampaknya begitu berhasil untuk membatasi perjalanan panjangdari hak ulayat di Negara ini yang dipelopori oleh Van Vollenhoven pada awal abad ke-20. Hukumtanah adat di Indonesia pada suatu hari akan menjadi semacam cerita indah dalam perjalananhukum historiografis Indonesia. |