Tonggo Simangunsong, Medan, Indonesia – Sahala Pasaribu, 35, walks on customary land his family has not been able to manage for more than three decades since PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), a pulpwood company, took control of it. Now, after the government decided to revoke the company's permit in January, he hopes it's possible.
"We feel free to manage our own land without the intimidation we often faced," said Sahala, head of Natinggir village in Indonesia's North Sumatra province. He succeeded his father, Tomu Pasaribu, who died in 2024.
He has already begun replanting the land with secondary crops, such as corn and vegetables. His family also plans to restore a customary forest, which they say is sacred.
But whether he, and others from dozens of Indigenous communities whose lands were held by the company, can legally reclaim their customary lands remains unclear.
At the start of 2026, the government decided to revoke PT TPL's forest utilization permit, along with those of 27 other companies, over violating environmental and forestry regulations it said contributed to deadly floods and landslides in November 2025.
But according to officials, lands under these permits will be managed by state-owned companies under the sovereign investment agency Danantara. Some companies have also indicated they will appeal the revocations of their permits. Pressure from communities on the government for clarity about whether they can take back lands has so far gone unanswered.
Mongabay reached out to Danantara and the ministries of environment and forestry but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Since it began operations in the 1980s, TP PTL which holds a concession permit covering 167,927 hectares (415,000 acres), has sparked land conflicts with communities over reported lack of consultation. According to the Tano Batak branch of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) and Community Initiative Study and Development Group (KSPPM), two NGOs concerned with this issue, 29 communities are now trying to reclaim their land from the concession, totaling 37,219 hectares (92,000 acres).
Natinggir village, with 1,496 hectares (3,700 acres) of customary land, is one of them.
"Not only have we lost our land for farming, but our customary forests, which we consider sacred and our main source of water, have also long been destroyed for the establishment of eucalyptus plantations [for pulpwood production]," he told Mongabay.
However, he said he felt anxious when he heard that after the revocation, state-owned enterprises would take over PT TPL and 27 other companies' concessions.
"We don't want to be thrown from the mouth of a tiger into the mouth of a crocodile. We want our land back; we don't want to continue facing conflict," he said.
Demanding the return and restoration of customary land
Some members of the 29 communities expressed optimism following the revocation of the permit. The NGOs that back them also underline their Indigenous status – and thus the rights that come with this – while the state is yet to recognize this.
Marinir Siallagan, a descendant of the Ompu Umbak Siallagan community in Dolok Parmonangan village, said that even though the PT TPL permit had been revoked, community members remain concerned. Just days after the permit revocation, she said they sometimes saw PT TPL security officers roaming around the customary land.
The village, which has a total of 851 hectares (2,100 acres) of customary land, today uses only 15 hectares (37 acres) for housing and agriculture.
"We need legal certainty over our land," he told Mongabay. "Otherwise, we will still face potential conflict."
In 2024, his father, Sorbatua Siallagan, a community elder, was found guilty and sentenced to prison for two years on charges of burning grass on customary land that was under a concession controlled by PT TPL.
Marinir said the transfer of the concession to Danantara will not resolve the conflict with the communities if their customary lands are not restored. "We want our customary land returned first, otherwise we worry that the situation will only get worse in the future; we don't know," he said.
The neighboring village of Sihaporas, whose 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of land are included in the PT TPL concession, have now returned to occupy the land. However, they also need clarity.
"We have lived here for 11 generations, long before Indonesia's independence in 1945. Now TPL's permit has been revoked, and it should be closed permanently, and our land returned," Mangitua Ambarita, head of Sihaporas village, told Mongabay.
He disagrees with the transfer to any company, as he fears they will continue to face similar conflicts. "We want our land removed from the concession," he added.
AMAN, along with the joint secretariat of the Ecumenical Movement for Ecological Justice in North Sumatra, a coalition of religious leaders, NGOs and human rights and environmental activists, has urged the government to uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples following the revocation of PT TPL's permit.
On Feb. 5, the joint secretariat held a meeting in the capital Jakarta to discuss the revocation and communities' customary lands. On the same day, they met Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq to put forward the communities' aspirations: returning the land and the restoration of ecosystems impacted by years of eucalyptus plantations. A day before, they also went to the forestry ministry to propose the same key points.
"The revocation of the permit must be followed by the return of Indigenous peoples' lands and the restoration of the damaged ecosystems," Jhontoni Tarihoran, director of AMAN Tano Batak, told Mongabay.
In mid-February, dozens of representatives from the 29 communities requesting their land back gathered at a meeting with KSPPM to plan the steps to be taken.
"The meeting sought joint steps to ensure that Indigenous communities obtain legal certainty regarding the return of their lands," Rocky Pasaribu, director of KSPPM, told Mongabay.
Pasaribu also urged the government to immediately release all concessions from forest areas, in accordance with the Constitutional Court's decision in 2012, which stated that customary forests cannot be classified as state forests. In his reading, this would bar state companies from taking over these forests.
During the meeting, participants committed to reforesting the lands that have been cleared after being converted to plantations, said Sahala Pasaribu, who also attended the meeting.
Community members are also urging the government to expedite the process of titling their customary lands, an move they have requested for years.
"We will once again urge the government to continue verification as part of the process of recognizing our identity as Indigenous peoples, so that our status as Indigenous peoples is truly recognized by the state," he said.
Six communities that had lands under the PT TPL concession undertook similar efforts and in 2022 received an official land title from then-President Joko Widodo, followed by the return of 6,884 hectares (17,000 acres) of their land.
While walking along his customary land, Sahala Pasaribu said he hopes one day his community will have a similar outcome.
"Frankly, I'm still worried before there's clarity from the government about returning our land," he said. "We want to live in peace on our own land."