Land disputes expected to rise this year

JAKARTA (JP): This year will see an escalation in the number of land disputes, partly due to the country's economic upheavals in the last four months, State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono said yesterday.

But Soni believes that the increase in land disputes would not have a "significant" political impact which could destabilize the country.

"The disputes will be more economic oriented (rather than politically oriented)," he said in his year-end evaluation and 1998 outlook on land issues.

Soni, who is also the chairman of National Land Agency, said people would become more aware of their rights and go to greater lengths to secure these rights. This he said would escalate the number of land disputes.

Last year, the number of disputes sent to PO Box 5000 -- a special address under the supervisory of the Vice President's office set up to receive people's complaints -- totaled 590, two- and-a-half times the 1996 figure.

The number of complaints received by his office and the National Land Agency through its PO Box 4000 address, was 443, 36 percent higher than last year, Soni said.

He said most of the disputes centered around state-versus- people's land ownership claims and the compensation offered by the state to open the way for plantations, forestry and other projects.

Soni said that a large number of disputes also stemmed from conflicts between the state, or private-sector businesses, and individuals claiming the disputed land as community property.

Soni said the concept of community land would eventually vanish as people became more aware of their rights and finally legally staked their land ownership claims to avoid disputes.

Soni said community land often became the center of disputes because it did not have proper legal documents which subsequently weakened its legal status.

The current development, according to Soni, is that people are now beginning to split the ownership of community land.

He said community land did not exist anymore in Jakarta and Java.

Community land now only exists outside the island of Java, where according to Soni, people still live in a close kinship society.

Assessing the price of land in 1998, Soni said "a significant hike" would be unlikely as the lingering economic slowdown had affected the property business, as was evident in the difficulties being experienced by several real estate firms.

"However, land prices will not come down either," he added. (aan)