THE DECONSTRUCTION OF NAHDLATUL ULAMA ACTIVISTS AGAINST THE CONCEPT OF AGRARIAN REFORM BASED ON FIQH OF PRIORITIES

Abstract

After several years of suspension, agrarian reform was re-implemented as a way to achieve agrarian justice. This policy was stipulated in the Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 concerning the Implementation of Agrarian Reform which is framed in the Agrarian Reform and Social Forestry (RAPS). However, many groups, mainly the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) with their strong activism in the agrarian struggle, deeply criticized this policy. This research will examine how NU activists deconstruct the concept of agrarian reform in the RAPS policy using the priority fiqh theory. Fiqh of priorities was initiated to consider the implementation of charity acts or policies deserving the priority of concern based on Shariah principles. This study applied empirical and normative legal research by interviewing NU activists, who paid a specific concern in the agrarian sector, and by conducting a literature review of the results of NU’s ijtihad regarding agrarian reform. The result of this study indicates that agrarian reform in the RAPS policy has not fulfilled the priority fiqh principles. This article contributes to the accuracy of the concept and implementation of agrarian reform in Indonesia which is more just in accordance with the scale of priorities needed to achieve the goals of agrarian reform.