Land disputes hinder development in Samosir

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Pangururan

The increasing number of people being detained for land disputes in the new regency of Samosir Island has led to the inmate population there swelling by almost 50 percent in a year, officials say.

The number of prisoners at Pangururan jail had increased to 350 in March from about 240 in February last year, data from the regency said.

Officials say skyrocketing land prices have caused more frequent land disputes in the regency where land ownership certificates are rare and land is still communally owned and passed down to children through bloodlines.

Land prices had increased because of the expected development in the new regency and now ranged between Rp 50,000 (US$5.50) and Rp 1,500,000 a square meter, Tutuk Siadong subdistrict head Saudin Samosir said.

Empty land on the hills dotting the island now cost between Rp 20,000 and Rp 50,000 a square meter, farmland prices have risen by almost 100 percent to Rp 200,000 while the land prices in townships Tomok, Tuktuksiadong and Pangururan have increased to between Rp 1 million and Rp 1.5 million a square meter.

Modern houses in the regional capital of Pematang Siantar were now being rented for up to Rp 1 million a year, Saudin said.

Samosir is an mountainous island surrounded by Lake Toba, which is popular for its natural beauty. Located some 900 meters above sea level in North Sumatra, the island is a favorite tourist destination in the country after Bali and Senggigi in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Saudin said many people believed development in basic infrastructure and tourism would be on the rise following the area's new regency status and regional autonomy.

"Much of the land on the island has remained idle and is communally owned and it has been difficult for the government to buy land on the island because, apart from the drastically increasing land prices, the land is not certified and belongs to traditional communities.

"In the Toba Batak tradition, land is part of communal (or clan) identity and it is passed on to descendants to be maintained. It is impossible for someone to sell communal land without approval from their extended families," he said.

Many land disputes had surfaced recently because many empty patches of land were being claimed by one or more families, he said.

Acting regent Wilmar Elyascher Simandjorang warned local people of increasing serious land conflicts that he said could undermine the planned development programs for the area.

"So far, the regental administration, including the regental legislature, is still renting buildings and it will be unable to afford the expensive land. Besides, investors are expected to be reluctance to invest on the island unless land reform is conducted," he said.

Legalizing land ownership was only one of numerous problems the new regional government was facing in its efforts to improve services to the public and to help improve its constituents' welfare, he said.

The regency was also short of the money needed to resolve all the problems in the regency, and would need the help of Samosir residents.

"The people, especially traditional and informal leaders, should contribute communal land to the government and investors to allow it to make changes in the regency. With the presence of government offices, locals will have an easy access to public services and investors would be able to help create jobs," he said.

He said the incoming administration would have a lot of work ahead of it improving new regency's poor human development index.

"More than 40 percent of the regency's 130,000 population are still living under the poverty line and 30 percent of them are unemployed. The average annual per capita income is only Rp 4 million. We do not yet have a general hospital and we have only three public health centers to serve the people in all nine subdistricts. The quality of human resources is still low here because most people have not had higher educations than elementary or junior high school level," he said.

The infant and maternal mortality rates in rural areas also remained still high because of the lack of medical facilities and midwives, he said.

Wilmar said concentrating on organizing the regional elections scheduled for June 27 meant he had little time to resolve the social, economic and environmental problems in the province.

"Many prospective candidates with many different backgrounds have emerged and the local office of the General Elections Commission (KPUD) and the regental legislative council is still making preparations for the polls," he said.

He said the region's former administrator, the greater Toba Samosir regency, did not seem interested in helping out the new electorate.

"The funds we receive from Toba Samosir are not enough to cover our annual operations and we are still running short of many more staff to handle administrative affairs."