Collusion in land disputes criticized
Collusion in land disputes criticized
SURABAYA (JP): Legal practitioners reproached the government
yesterday for its continued siding with businesses, rather than
the people, in various land disputes.
The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute's head of
environmental and land affairs, Rio Ismail, said in a discussion
here yesterday that too often the state took a one-sided approach
in such disputes, slapping malicious labels on people who try to
defend their rights.
He lamented that the state, which should be protecting the
interests of the people, was instead colluding with capitalists.
As a result, rulers, exploiting natural resources in the name of
the state, often clash head-on with the people.
Rio noted that those who refused to acquiesce were stigmatized
and accused of various offenses, including being members or
supporters of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
He pointed to several highly charged land cases such as those
in the villages of Nipah, Jenggawah and Tubanan in East Java, as
examples of disputes which pitted the state against the people.
Rio noted that in all these cases, it has been evident that the
government resorted to an "intense military approach".
Rio also examined several urban cases where large businesses
or conglomerates misused local administration-designed city
blueprints to claim areas of land.
He deplored the government's tendency in such circumstances to
back a business' license for development projects, rather than
the people's ownership certificate.
Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto, a member of the National Commission
on Human Rights, said that as a country modernizes, there are
increasing examples of a government manipulating the people's
interests in the name of development and the public good.
He said that capitalists often exploit the tendency to garner
even greater profit.
Soetandyo argued that, in the current climate, land reform
based on a fair and equal distribution of natural resources is
needed.
The discussion focused on the poor implementation of the 1960
Agrarian Law. The speakers concluded that while the law was set
up for the interests of the people, which renders it "populist",
its implementation has been abused for capitalists' interests.
The speakers also lamented the narrowing of the term "agrarian
affairs" here into land affairs, rather than the broader concept
of natural resources.
"In consequence, many problems in exploitation of natural
resources escape the Agrarian Law," Rio said. (15/mds)