'Update land title processing system'

JAKARTA (JP): A property analyst underlined yesterday the importance of periodically changing the system for processing land titles to eradicate forgeries in Greater Jakarta.

Panangian Simanungkalit said that periodic changes in the system, especially in the use of stamps, was badly needed because the current system had not been changed for many years, thereby enabling culprits to easily exploit its loopholes.

Panangian, who is also chairman of the Center for Indonesian Property Studies, made the remarks in response to State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono's statement on the high number of land title forgeries in Greater Jakarta.

The problem was caused partly by the weakness of the agrarian offices and the municipalities, Panangian told The Jakarta Post.

The fact that many officials are easily bribed makes the problem more complicated, he said. "It's a very embarrassing situation," he said.

"The culprits involved in the forgeries should be given severe punishments to deter others from doing the same," he said.

He said that if they went unchecked, such practices would discourage foreign investors.

Councilor Lukman F. Mokoginta of the Indonesian Democratic Party urged the municipality yesterday to make an inventory of land certificates to help stop the increases in land title forgeries.

"The inventory should be made not only of privately owned land, but also of the city owned land," Lukman, a member of the council's Commission D for development affairs, told the Post.

"The inventory would help reduce the large amount of neglected land and prevent land conflicts," Lukman said.

According to official data, there are more than 33,000 hectares of neglected land in Greater Jakarta. Much of it, in addition to other land, is occupied by illegal migrants, Lukman said.

He called for those convicted of forging title deeds to be given heavy punishments.

"Officials who are involved in forging titles should be given severe punishments because they not only hurt people, but also the municipality and even the government."

The forgeries, he said, not only disadvantaged people who thought their land documents had a legitimate legal basis, but also banks.

"People, who forge land titles can use them to get loans from banks. Such a practice should be prevented."

He also urged people to be careful when buying land. "People should check the certificates at agrarian offices."

The involvement of city administration officials in land title forgeries, he said, was due to their easy access to the required data or facilities.

Both the administrations and the agrarian offices should cooperate in the inventory, by activating the land title program funded in 1994 by the World Bank and the Australian government, he said.

On Tuesday, the President ordered Soni Harsono to investigate forgery cases in Bekasi, where 200 land title documents have been falsified. (ste)