Govt mulls revising land decree<\/p>\n
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The controversial presidential decree on land acquisition may
\ncome under revision due to mounting opposition from non-
\ngovernmental organizations and lawmakers, says Cabinet Secretary
\nSudi Silalahi.<\/p>\n
Speaking during Monday's hearing with House of Representatives
\nCommission II on agrarian affairs, Sudi said, however, that the
\nprocess would not be straightforward.<\/p>\n
\"We'll review the criticisms but, due to the nature of the
\nregulation, revising it will take a lot of time and thought,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Presidential Decree No. 36\/2005, issued recently, has sparked
\nstrong protests from non-governmental organizations and House
\nmembers as it allows the government to take over land for
\ndevelopment purposes, even if the land owner does not accept the
\ngovernment's compensation offer.<\/p>\n
The Cabinet Secretariat is in charge of drafting all
\npresidential decrees, regulations and instructions.<\/p>\n
Commission I gave Sudi during the hearing documents that it
\nhad compiled, containing articles for consideration and points of
\nrevision for the new land decree.<\/p>\n
Commission members were of the opinion that the decree opened
\nchances for discriminatory measures by authorities due to the
\nmulti-interpretative meaning of \"public interest\", and to
\narbitrarily take over private land if they failed to take into
\naccount Law No. 20\/1961 on the retraction of rights over land and
\nobjects on it.<\/p>\n
They also saw room for collusion between the government and
\ninvestors in the acquisition process, a gross monopoly with the
\nestablishment of an \"independent price appraiser\" that was
\nappointed by the government itself, and a repressive element due
\nto the limited negotiation period.<\/p>\n
While the commission acknowledged that enacting the regulation
\nwas the government's right, it said legislators would serve to
\nmonitor the implementation.<\/p>\n
Legislator Eddy Mihati said the government had actually
\nviolated Law No. 10\/2004 on the enactment of regulations and laws
\nthat states any regulations involving public interests or human
\nrights have to be accommodated in the form of a law.<\/p>\n
\"Furthermore, the House is already scheduled in 2006 to
\ndeliberate a law on land acquisition for public interests. The
\ngovernment probably wanted to overtake us on this issue to avoid
\ndeliberating with us,\" he argued.<\/p>\n
In response, Sudi said the decree's enactment had been pushed
\nby Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto and Coordinating
\nMinister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie for reasons of
\nattracting foreign investment and development purposes.<\/p>\n
\"This is an urgent situation, to ensure legal certainty for
\ndevelopment works, such as infrastructure projects, which have
\nbeen planned but are yet to commence due to legal problems,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
However, he failed to elaborate further on the urgency of the
\ndecree, to the disappointment of legislators.<\/p>\n
The House has become the latest voice to demand that the
\ngovernment shelve the decree.<\/p>\n
A number of non-governmental organizations are currently
\nseeking public support to file a request for a judicial review,
\nand plan to submit it to the Supreme Court on July 29.<\/p>\n
Activists have condemned the decree, a renewed version of
\npresidential regulation No. 55\/1993, as it could lead to human
\nrights problems in the future with forced evictions and
\nintimidation -- practices common after the old regulation was
\nimposed.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-mulls-revising-land-decree-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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