Ex-PTPN Land Trial: Expert Reveals 20% Land Regulation Lacks Implementation Guidelines

Administrative law expert Ahmad Redi stated that Ministerial Regulation No. 165 of 2021 from the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency explains the obligation to surrender 20% of land to the state. “The regulation states that the surrender occurs before the process of transferring building use rights. This means in the form of business use rights which are then surrendered by the HGU holder,” said Redi during the continuation of the trial on the alleged sale of PTPN assets to Ciputra Land at Medan District Court on Monday (6/4). However, Redi also explained that to date, there are no implementation guidelines (juklak) or technical instructions (juknis) regarding the obligation to surrender 20% of the land to the state, as stipulated in Article 165 of Ministerial Regulation No. 18 of 2021 from ATR/BPN. “Regarding the surrender obligation of 20% for the transfer of building use rights to building use rights, indeed there is none in the juklak and juknis,” said Redi. According to Redi, under the provisions of Article 165 of the ATR/BPN Ministerial Regulation, the obligation to surrender 20% of the land to the state has been regulated since the regulation was enacted in 2021. Meanwhile, Article 166 focuses more on the requirements for changes in rights. “Article 166 concerns requirements. As far as I know, there are no juklak and juknis on the surrender. If you read the regulation, Article 166 covers the requirements for changing HGU to HGB. The change, application, then examination by certain officials to check the physical and juridical data. In this case, the HGU holder will surrender the land to the state,” explained Redi. He also explained that the change from Business Use Rights (HGU) to Building Use Rights (HGB) can occur for two reasons: changes in regional spatial planning or government development needs. During the trial, Redi answered several questions from the prosecutor and the defendant’s legal counsel, including on the implementation of the land surrender obligation, which is still facing technical obstacles. Meanwhile, witness Hernold Ferry Makawimbang, who calculated the state losses, stated that the calculation of state losses was based on the value of the land not yet surrendered to the state. “So what we calculated is the HGU. We averaged the price in the HGU at Rp1 million per square metre. So we looked at the 20% obligation to the state totalling Rp263 billion,” he said. The legal counsel for former PTPN II Director Irwan Perangin-angin, Fernandes Raja Saor, also stated during the trial that they have expressed readiness to fulfil the obligation but are hindered by the lack of technical regulations. “We have made the application, we are willing to carry out the 20% surrender to the state. But we do not have the authority to regulate the surrender due to the regulatory vacuum, and to whom the land will be given,” said Fernandes. In addition to Redi and Hernold, two other expert witnesses were presented in the trial, namely Iwan Budiyono as a financial auditor, Suherwin as a public accountant, and Dr. Hernold Ferry Makawimbang who calculated the state losses. Suherwin explained that they assessed seven locations that have HGB status and are managed by PT Nusa Dua Propertindo (NDP) together with PT Deli Megapolitan Kawasan Residensial (DMKR). “Our assumption, our assessment is that these seven HGU locations that were changed will be developed into housing, and we assessed 93 hectares of land that already have buildings. And we assessed the obligation from the 93 hectares of the aforementioned 20%. The figure we got based on market calculations reaches Rp197 billion in vacant condition,” he said.