Land ownership permits to be simplified
JAKARTA (JP): Public consultation hearings on a revision of the 1960 Agrarian Law began here on Thursday to, among other things, help simplify the procedures and permits involved in land ownership.
The consultations were held under the aegis of the National Land Agency (BPN) and the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), the two bodies which are drafting the revisions.
"Basically, we want people to properly understand their rights and obligations in relation to land and its usage. It is a fact that a lack of legal knowledge has led to widespread land disputes and that's why we're going to revise it," BPN deputy chief Luthfi Nasution said on Thursday.
By simplifying the required permits, "both the general public and investors will find it easy to deal with land matters," he added.
Among the proposed revisions to Law No. 5/1960 is the simplification of permits into property ownership documents and land use rights.
The current regulations consisted of a slew of complicated permits such as Building Use Rights (Hak Guna Bangunan-HGB) and Commercial Use Rights (Hak Guna Usaha-HGU), Property Ownership Rights (Hak Milik) and Land Use Rights (Hak Pakai).
A HGB confers the right to use a property which is not necessarily owned by the permit holder while a HGU confers the right to use a property for commercial purposes.
A Use Right is the right to use a certain property for a particular period of time, Luthfi added.
"We're proposing to scale down the other rights and stick to the previous two (property ownership and usage) as actually both of these rights cover all the components needed in a land transaction," he said.
Thursday's meeting also agreed to work on several revisions of the law, such as clear recognition of traditional land rights (hak ulayat) which had been neglected for quite some time, the proper limit for land ownership, social participation and equality in sharing land possessions .
Parts of the revision will also touch on sensitive subjects such as limits on property holdings in real estates, plantations, resorts and tourism sites, and industrial estates, Luthfi added.
"Land is a complex and difficult issue as for quite some time the Agrarian Law has been grossly misinterpreted, as have its implementing regulations, so that the law has tended not to side with the people," Bappenas' deputy for natural resources Herman Haeruman told The Jakarta Post.
Herman cited several fatal misinterpretations of the Agrarian Law in land-related regulations issued by local administrations, such as the issuing of location permit requirements.
"The Agrarian Law doesn't state that a location permit is needed for land-related activities. The law also states that traditional land rights are protected, but in many cases these rights have been lost due to simple ignorance or manipulation by third parties," he said.
Many land disputes have been abandoned for years without a proper solution having been arrived at, and some have even ended up as protracted conflicts.
Among these is the dispute between the Kubu tribe and forest concessionaires in the jungles of Jambi and South Sumatra.
According to Luthfi, there are three requirements for a property to be considered as traditional ulayat land.
"There must be a group of the legal-traditional community in the area with certain property objects and living space plus the fact that they have been living under that traditional system consistently," he explained.
"Without those preconditions, it's impossible for people to claim their traditional rights,". (edt)