Controversial land ruling harms farmers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

These days, money beats everything. "If the government is willing to give me a good deal on my plot of land, then I will give it up and find a new living elsewhere, maybe as an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver," said Solichin, the owner of a 300-square-meter plot of land in Krukut, south of Jakarta.

Solichin's lot, planted with cassava trees whose fruit and leaves he sells at the nearby market, is located in an area that will likely be affected by the construction of a new toll road in South Jakarta.

For Solichin, who lives just half an hours drive from the city, finding a income source elsewhere when he has to give up his land will perhaps not be too difficult.

But it is a different story for rural farmers, whose livelihoods depend solely on the land they own.

"For rural farmers, land is their only means of subsistence that guarantees that their family will have something to eat," Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) vice chairman Agusdin Pulungan told a discussion panel on the pros and cons of planned new land regulations on Monday.

The discussion panel agreed that Presidential Regulation No. 36/2005 on Land Provision for the Development of Public Interests violated people's basic rights to livelihood and only favored capital owners.

They demanded that the regulation issued earlier this month be revised "in the interest of the public".

Land acquisition has often become an obstacle for infrastructure development due to land owners rejecting offers for their land, stifling investment in the sector, while at the same time the nation needs to speed up such development in order to support a more competitive economy that will create more jobs.

With the newly-issued regulation, the government is authorized to unilaterally revoke an individual's right to their property.

The public facilities listed in the controversial regulation for which compulsory acquisition can be carried out includes road projects, public hospitals, seaports, airports, train stations and power plants.

"Such public facilities will not benefit farmers when they have nothing to live from," Agusdin said, insisting that the regulation was repressive, authoritarian and beneficial only to rich people.

"The government has issued permits for 6.5 million hectares of land to business entities, but currently only 1.5 million is actually used," Agusdin said.

"In the previous land regulation -- Presidential Decree No. 55/1993 -- the term public use is clearly stated as meaning non- profit activity," land committee head S. B. Silalahi said.

He said that infrastructure projects, which would return a profit to investors, were not eligible to be called public facilities.

In common with previous regulations, the new regulation also stipulates that compensation for land owners is based on the land's taxable value of property (NJOP), and its current market price is determined by an independent appraiser.

Silalahi added that any development projects should be based on local people's aspirations and potential, thus responsibility to appraise and oversee such projects should be given to local authorities and representatives.

"First, there should be better and clearer spatial planning that involves public participation in order to avoid future conflicts between the authorities and local community, as well as within communities themselves," land reform expert Gunawan Wiradi told the same discussion.

He said that with greater public participation in the planning and location of public facilities, it would avoid conflict in terms of misuse of resumed land for private profit, aside from tackling problems with acquisitions.

"There should be an independent land reform body that should compile data on land usage, supervise rights and obligations of land owners as well as recommend permits for land use to the National Land Agency," Agusdin said.

He said the HKTI along with other non-governmental organizations would push for a review of the regulations concerning land reform. (003)