Ada Pertanyaan? Hubungi Kami 
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Ada Pertanyaan? Hubungi Kami Marcell Sihombing, Rofiq Hidayat
Issues pertaining to agrarian affairs within Indonesian society never seem to be far from the headlines. Moreover, a huge amount of civil lawsuits regarding land ownership disputes are filed with the courts here. In this context, Law No. 5 of 1969on Agrarian Affairs (“Agrarian Law”) is no longer fit for purpose with regard to the settlement of such disputes.“The agrarian issue has become too big to handle here,” asserted Ahmad Riza Patria, the Vice-Chair of Commission II of the House of Representatives (House), in a discussion that took place at the House Office yesterday.
The Draft Bill on Land (Draft Bill) which has been included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2015-2019 is surely going to spark plenty of serious debate during its deliberation stages. In fact, Mr. Patria believes that the Draft Bill will ultimately prove to be even more troublesome than the discussions of the Draft Bill on the Criminal Code (RKUHP).
According to Mr. Patria, the RUKHP focuses on aspects of law enforcement and justice, however the Draft Bill applies to something greater. Beyond the realms of law enforcement and justice, the Draft Bill will also regulate the ownership of land assets. And this is especially contentious in the current climate, as while Indonesia's total land area remains the same, the area of land available for ownership keeps on shrinking.
“I understand the complex reasons why the deliberations surrounding the Draft Bill were never brought to a conclusion after the governing regime changed. Therefore, we have now put it under the initiative of the House,” explained Mr. Patria.
Mr. Patria has revealed that the Draft Bill has now been handed over to the Legislation Board (Badan Legislasi – Baleg), which will conduct discussions and receive input from various experts. It is hoped that when the Draft Bill is finally passed into law, that it will be able to handle land disputes comprehensively and effectively, and also hopefully offer some sense of justice to the general populace.
Mr. Patria also asserted that the Draft Bill would offer more specific details with regard to the regulation of land ownership, including the various functions that plots of land are put to. Mr. Patria pointed to the government’s food self-sufficiency program as an example, as the program has been hindered by the conversion of land originally designated for farming purposes into factories or housings.
“Such matters require further regulation. The land resource itself obviously won’t expand, while the country faces a huge challenge with regard to a massive housing shortfall, which obviously requires the allotment of land as an integral part of any solution,” said Mr. Patria.
Also commenting on the issue, land and spatial affairs expert Yayat Supriyatna stated his hope that the Draft Bill would be able to strengthen the government's role, involving it in land matters to a greater extent in accordance with the prevailing laws and regulations.
Mr. Supriyatna's view is that land issues are closely related to that of natural resources, which he believes are the ultimate source of disputes. Beneath many areas of land in the country sits a huge amount of valuable natural resources and mineral wealth, and according to Mr. Supriyatna, the absence of regulations capable of dealing with land disputes has ultimately led to a very grave situation.
“The government, who should be mediating in such disputes, has not been able to contribute much in the way of solutions, while the country's Agrarian Law does not have much to offer in terms of justice against a disturbing background of many disputes. All of the above problems mean that the formulation of clear and detailed regulations which will prevent the involvement of political interests in land disputes is now of paramount importance,” explained Mr. Supriyatna.
Mr. Supriyatna firmly believes that government's role under the Agrarian Law has been reduced to that of being a mere “administrative clerk” that is only capable of registering land-ownership titles and their transfer from party to party. Land disputes, however, involve various modus operandi that require the services of a competent problem solver, instead of just an administrative clerk.
The fate of Indonesia's diverse population is ultimately in the hands of the Draft Bill and its eventual outcome. There is an urgent need to pass the lex specialis Draft Bill into law, so that various land disputes can be handled fairly across the country. Mr. Supriyatna believes that the Draft Bill will be able to change the government's role from that of mere “administrative clerk” into a “fully-fledged authority” with the ability to monitor and take necessary measures when dealing with land-dispute cases.
“This means that the government will in future be involving itself in land-dispute cases under the pretext of natural-resource management,” concluded Mr. Supriyatna.
(sp)
Marcell Sihombing, Rofiq Hidayat
Issues pertaining to agrarian affairs within Indonesian society never seem to be far from the headlines. Moreover, a huge amount of civil lawsuits regarding land ownership disputes are filed with the courts here. In this context, Law No. 5 of 1969on Agrarian Affairs (“Agrarian Law”) is no longer fit for purpose with regard to the settlement of such disputes.“The agrarian issue has become too big to handle here,” asserted Ahmad Riza Patria, the Vice-Chair of Commission II of the House of Representatives (House), in a discussion that took place at the House Office yesterday.
The Draft Bill on Land (Draft Bill) which has been included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2015-2019 is surely going to spark plenty of serious debate during its deliberation stages. In fact, Mr. Patria believes that the Draft Bill will ultimately prove to be even more troublesome than the discussions of the Draft Bill on the Criminal Code (RKUHP).
According to Mr. Patria, the RUKHP focuses on aspects of law enforcement and justice, however the Draft Bill applies to something greater. Beyond the realms of law enforcement and justice, the Draft Bill will also regulate the ownership of land assets. And this is especially contentious in the current climate, as while Indonesia's total land area remains the same, the area of land available for ownership keeps on shrinking.
“I understand the complex reasons why the deliberations surrounding the Draft Bill were never brought to a conclusion after the governing regime changed. Therefore, we have now put it under the initiative of the House,” explained Mr. Patria.
Mr. Patria has revealed that the Draft Bill has now been handed over to the Legislation Board (Badan Legislasi – Baleg), which will conduct discussions and receive input from various experts. It is hoped that when the Draft Bill is finally passed into law, that it will be able to handle land disputes comprehensively and effectively, and also hopefully offer some sense of justice to the general populace.
Mr. Patria also asserted that the Draft Bill would offer more specific details with regard to the regulation of land ownership, including the various functions that plots of land are put to. Mr. Patria pointed to the government’s food self-sufficiency program as an example, as the program has been hindered by the conversion of land originally designated for farming purposes into factories or housings.
“Such matters require further regulation. The land resource itself obviously won’t expand, while the country faces a huge challenge with regard to a massive housing shortfall, which obviously requires the allotment of land as an integral part of any solution,” said Mr. Patria.
Also commenting on the issue, land and spatial affairs expert Yayat Supriyatna stated his hope that the Draft Bill would be able to strengthen the government's role, involving it in land matters to a greater extent in accordance with the prevailing laws and regulations.
Mr. Supriyatna's view is that land issues are closely related to that of natural resources, which he believes are the ultimate source of disputes. Beneath many areas of land in the country sits a huge amount of valuable natural resources and mineral wealth, and according to Mr. Supriyatna, the absence of regulations capable of dealing with land disputes has ultimately led to a very grave situation.
“The government, who should be mediating in such disputes, has not been able to contribute much in the way of solutions, while the country's Agrarian Law does not have much to offer in terms of justice against a disturbing background of many disputes. All of the above problems mean that the formulation of clear and detailed regulations which will prevent the involvement of political interests in land disputes is now of paramount importance,” explained Mr. Supriyatna.
Mr. Supriyatna firmly believes that government's role under the Agrarian Law has been reduced to that of being a mere “administrative clerk” that is only capable of registering land-ownership titles and their transfer from party to party. Land disputes, however, involve various modus operandi that require the services of a competent problem solver, instead of just an administrative clerk.
The fate of Indonesia's diverse population is ultimately in the hands of the Draft Bill and its eventual outcome. There is an urgent need to pass the lex specialis Draft Bill into law, so that various land disputes can be handled fairly across the country. Mr. Supriyatna believes that the Draft Bill will be able to change the government's role from that of mere “administrative clerk” into a “fully-fledged authority” with the ability to monitor and take necessary measures when dealing with land-dispute cases.
“This means that the government will in future be involving itself in land-dispute cases under the pretext of natural-resource management,” concluded Mr. Supriyatna.
(sp)