Land-for-land solution proposed
Land-for-land solution proposed
JAKARTA (JP): House Speaker Wahono, concerned at the rising
number of land conflicts, proposed yesterday that people who give
up their land be compensated with land, plus a certain amount of
money.
"Land to many people is the most basic necessity. It cannot be
substituted or replaced by other goods," Wahono told a plenary
session of the House.
"We fear, that the more people are being displaced, the more
people are being left without land, and this means that more
people are being left without a home," he said.
The government, as well as parties procuring the land, should
shoulder the responsibility of providing affordable housing for
these displaced people, he added.
Wahono expressed concern at the rapid erosion of productive
farmland and at the increasing concentration of land ownership in
the hands of a few rich farmers.
He was especially concerned at the fate of villagers and
small-plot farmers, and stressed that these people were the very
basis of the country's independence struggle 50 years ago.
To all House members, Wahono urged them to pay greater
attention to cases of land conflicts. "We have to protect the
interest of the 'small people' and improve their welfare," he
said, referring to the Indonesian phrase for the weak and
disadvantage.
On the recent hikes in the prices of cement and paper by the
government, Wahono said that in the future, such decisions should
be preceded by an open dialog, so that they could be better
understood and accepted by the public.
He praised the government's decision to lower the cement price
increase but pointed out that the move to increase the price of
paper was not consistent with its own campaign to encourage
people to read more.
It is ironic that Indonesia is the world's largest supplier of
pulp, yet the price of its paper is higher than those charged
abroad, he said. "The increase in prices could only benefit a
certain few people, at the expense of the public at large."
Wahono hoped that the government could explain to the House
about the impact of the higher yen on the Indonesian economy,
especially on the government's foreign debt burden.
He recalled that President Soeharto once said that the size of
Indonesia's foreign debt increases by $350 million every time the
value of the yen rises by one percentage point against the
dollar. "With a 20% appreciation in the last three months, we can
envisage how it affects our debt repayment positions." (emb/rid)