National Human Rights Commission Highlights Police Involvement in Land Disputes

The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has highlighted the involvement of police apparatus in numerous agrarian conflicts reported by communities, as complaints about land disputes remain high across various regions.

Uli Parulian Sihombing, Commissioner for Research and Assessment at Komnas HAM, stated that the body has received approximately 600 complaints implicating the police institution as the respondent during the 2023-2025 period.

“During the 2023-2025 period, there are approximately 600 cases where the police institution became the subject of complaint. These are merely reported cases; Komnas HAM has not yet handled all of them,” Uli stated in a presentation on agrarian conflict research on Monday, 9 March.

Of this total, approximately 160 complaints specifically relate to agrarian conflicts or natural resource disputes involving police during 2020-2024.

Overall, Komnas HAM has recorded 3,264 agrarian conflict complaints received between 2020-2025.

The cases most frequently involved the land sector with 133 cases, followed by conflicts in the plantation, forestry, and national strategic project sectors.

According to Uli, the police position in agrarian conflicts often occurs at the final stage or “downstream of conflict”, namely handling criminal consequences that emerge after land disputes occur in the field.

“So indeed, the police are downstream, handling the criminal aspects, while the structural conflict upstream remains deadlocked,” he stated.

He explained that agrarian conflicts in Indonesia are generally triggered by power imbalances between the state, corporations, and communities, including overlapping concession permits and clashes between customary land control and formal legal status such as certificates or land-use rights (HGU).

In several complaints, Komnas HAM also noted allegations of excessive force, intimidation practices, forced evictions, and criminalisation of communities defending their living spaces.

“These are disputes that are substantively within the civil and administrative domain but are being forced into the criminal realm,” Uli said.

Therefore, Komnas HAM stated that addressing agrarian conflicts should prioritise resolution through civil or administrative channels first.

Meanwhile, criminal law enforcement should serve as ultimum remedium or a last resort after land ownership status is clearly established.