Unregistered land owner to be punished

JAKARTA (JP): The government, if required, will issue tougher regulations on the obligation of the public to register their land for certification, along with sanctions for those who fail to obey them, a minister said.

"If a ministerial ruling is not enough; a presidential decree, government regulation or even a law on the public's obligation to register their lands, as well as sanctions for those who disobey the ruling, will be made," Minister of Agrarian Affairs/Chairman of the National Land Agency Soni Harsono said during his trip to supervise a trial land administration project, sponsored by his office in Depok, Antara reported yesterday.

The minister refused to explain further about the contents of the new regulation, but suggested that the heaviest sanction for delinquent land owners would be land confiscation.

The project, to systematically register public land in Depok, is based on Ministerial Regulation Number 1/1995.

The Rp 295 billion (US$131.9 million) trial project, which has been carried out since Feb. 21 and last for five years, is designed to provide quick service for land certificate applicants.

The minister was informed by his personnel that a large number of the local people still refuse to register their property without specific reasons.

Of the 1,399 plots of land listed in the area, only 272 plots, or 19 percent, have been issued with certificates.

A total of 1,046 plots have been registered for certification by their owners, while owners of the remaining 81 plots refuse to register their properties at all.

"What's happening with the people who refuse to register their land, because certified land has a higher value of sale if the owner wants to sell it," the minister said.

The government's goodwill to help people obtain land certificates, is in order to avoid, in the future, further losses by land owners involved in land disputes, Soni said.

He said an applicant has to pay a maximum of Rp 25,000 during the ongoing land administration project. The amount might be much lower than processing it at the National Land Agency office, due to brokers and disobedient officers at the agency. (bsr)