The problem with land

The problem with land

The land problem in this country could become a social time bomb if it is not handled with care. Many experts here agree, and Minister of Agrarian Affairs/Chairman of the National Land Agency Soni Harsono has warned the public about the complexity of land issues. The problem, another official has said, is no less explosive than the sensitive issues of tribal affiliations, religion, race and societal groups. Such a conclusion is not far from correct.

At present, many authorities consider these sensitive issues perilous to this country. This is due to the fact that it is felt the widening social gap has its roots in racial differences and that religion is still a highly sensitive matter. For centuries elders warned their offspring of the danger of tigers, despite the fact that tigers were far away in the jungle and may not have killed any humans in the span of, say, a decade. On the other hand mosquitoes, which daily bite people and have claimed many lives by spreading disease, such as malaria and dengue, were never mentioned.

There have been many land disputes which were solved only after the authorities and the people became embroiled in bloody clashes. Why has this happened? Dr. A.P. Parlindungan, an expert on agrarian law from North Sumatra, writes elsewhere on this page that most land-related cases reflected a poor understanding of the law, especially among the authorities. A national conference on law last year supported his conclusion.

Parlindungan doubts that all officials in charge of land problems fully understand the agrarian law and other regulations on this matter. This ignorance has bred many failures in the government's efforts to solve land disputes. And many authorities put their even more ignorant subordinates in charge of solving the problem.

This kind of problem has occurred in many corners of this sprawling archipelago. The most serious conflicts occurred in Kedung Ombo, Central Java, and on the island of Madura. In Jakarta, the seat of the central government, land conflicts are as old as the capital city's history and are among the most serious headaches for municipal authorities.

In Jakarta, where a serious land conflict which ended in the demolition of people's houses took place this week, the problem stems mostly from the illegal occupation of government land by squatters. Many of them built and lived in the shanties on government land for decades before the authorities came to drive them away and demolish their homes.

Do the authorities have the right to evict them when they were never told they were violating the law? They even had permission from local authorities to stay there. Many of them were issued identity cards and asked to pay land taxes every year. A legal expert has said that when one lets a person occupy his land for such a long period without complaint, the occupier can claim the land as his own.

What the authorities have done so far to supposedly ensure peaceful eviction is to pay squatters compensation. But the essence of the problem remains. The shanty towns are still growing in number because the city authorities have not been effective in their efforts. They are reluctant to remove squatters when they initially illegally occupy government land.

This is also the case with the state-owned railway company which doesn't lift a finger when it sees its train tracks lined with shanties. Poor families have lived along railroads for as many as five decades and will be allowed to stay there for perhaps another decade until the land is needed for some project.

What the government needs to bear in mind is that today the situation is quite different from what it was before. People are now more sensitive towards social injustices, social disparities and corrupt practices in the bureaucracy.

The demolition of shanties can spark riots or anti-government demonstrations which, if they get out of control, could ruin our most prided national stability.