'Govt must have land price reference'

The government has issued a regulation on land acquisition in an effort to speed up the construction of major infrastructure projects. However, many observers believe the new regulation sacrifices the rights of property owners for the benefit of these projects. The Jakarta Post asked some residents for their thoughts on the issue.

Yasir, 32, works for a non-governmental organization in Jakarta. He lives with his wife and three children in Sunter, North Jakarta.

I had a bad experience in a land case. Years ago, we had to sell part of my father's land at a very low price for a government project.

We proudly accepted the price set by local officials because we believed we were helping our country.

However, we found out later that the officials registered our land at a much higher price than what we received, so the state still had to pay a high price for our land.

I am afraid the type of experience I had will happen over and over again. Officials will try and set as low a price as possible to get the highest margin they can when they register the official price.

I suggest the government get some sort of land price reference for different areas so people will know how much their land is worth.

Yayuk, 35, is a native Jakartan who runs a small shop our of her house in Tanjung Barat, South Jakarta. She lives with her husband and son.

What can we do if the government has already issued the land acquisition regulation? All we can do is accept it. I hope the government does not just take our land because a businessman wants to build a mall or office building.

I worry that officials will cooperate with businesspeople to acquire our land on the premise that a government project is planned. We could not do anything if this happened.

As a native Jakartan who has run out of land in my own city, I hope the government will set up a monitoring body to control officials in the field to prevent any misconduct. --The Jakarta Post