Firm spatial planning required to curb land conflicts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of blue-uniformed public order officers are playing cards in front of a sealed building that used to be a junior high school in Melawai, South Jakarta.

The school found itself in trouble with the authorities after it refused to accept a controversial land swap deal made in 2001 by the Jakarta administration and a private developer that planned to demolish the school and build a new commercial center in its place.

Teachers, students and parents claimed that the deal was made without their consent and argued that the new location offered was too far away from their homes.

The case of State Junior High School No. 56 is only one of many examples of land use and other spatial planning regulations being ignored, thus leading to conflict and the sacrificing of the public interest.

A land reform organization reported that in 2001 alone, there were 1,753 land disputes reported nationwide, with projects involving the development of public facilities and housing complexes being among the top generators of conflicts.

Early last month, the government issued Presidential Regulation No. 36/2005 on the procurement of land for the provision of public facilities in an attempt to resolve the problems that have dogged the procurement of land for public infrastructure projects.

Activists have strongly criticized the regulation, saying it violates people's basic right to a livelihood as it allows the government to revoke the owner's right to his property should no agreement on compensation be reached, and only benefited developers.

They have urged the government to revise the definition of "public interest" used in the regulation.

The critics also called for better spatial planning involving public participation in order to avoid future conflicts between the authorities and local communities, as well between individual members of local communities.

Land reform expert Gunawan Wiradi told The Jakarta Post recently that if more members of the public were aware of their local spatial plans and the locations designated for public facilities, this could reduce problems associated with land procurement and collusion.

However, in most cities across Indonesia the exact opposite is the case -- something that has been going on for so long that it is taken for granted.

"Playing around with spatial regulations has been a common practice among developers and urban planners," young urban planner Adjie, not his real name, said, adding that this was normally done to facilitate the business of developers.

The conversion of residential areas to commercial uses -- like has been taking place in Kebayoran Baru and Kemang in South Jakarta -- was the second most common violation after a less serious violation of expanding building lines.

"The floor area ratio or building height, for example, can be increased by compensating with a percentage of the land to be used for open public spaces," he said.

While this might seem to benefit the public, the increase in the number of occupiers in the building would further affect traffic density in the area, thus causing more congestion. A similar result arose from the conversion of residential areas to commercial centers.

"There are no strict sanctions for the bending of spatial use regulations," urban planning expert from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Mohammad Danisworo told the Post. "Developers can build almost anything they want in whichever location they want."

He said the public was rarely, if not actually never, involved in spatial planning design in Indonesia. This was due to the fact that urban planning had never formed part of indigenous culture. "The public often do not have access or simply is not well- informed when it comes to urban planning, prompting ignorance of this issue."

Danisworo said there was the need for a special agency to be set up to enforce spatial planning guidelines, as well as active public supervision.

"A city is a manifestation of the forces that shape it," he said. "It is not very hard to judge the sort of forces that are shaping our cities now."