Jakarta - Much impoverishment due to long conflicts over lands in Indonesia has prompted the administration of President Joko Widodo to urge the acceleration of agrarian conflict resolutions, including one of those in Malang regency, East Java.
The Executive Office of the President (KSP) also said that a strong collaboration between Central government and regional leaders would further advance the resolution process.
The Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko previously signed a Decree number 1B/T/2021 on the Establishment of 2021’s Acceleration Team for Land Conflict Resolution and Agrarian Reform Policy. The team is expected to accelerate the resolution of 137 prioritized conflicts over land in 2021. The KSP team has recently visited Malang regency to directly monitor the completion of land redistributions. The action was taken in response to the Decree number 1B/T/2021 on the Establishment of 2021’s Acceleration Team for Land Conflict Resolution and Agrarian Reform Policy signed by Presidential Chief Of Staff, Moeldoko.
“There are six conflicted lands in Malang regency and they are part of the 137 agrarian conflicts that must be resolved this year,” said Usep Setiawan, Senior Advisor of KSP.
The team directly monitored and assisted land conflict resolution in Sendang Biru Hamlet, Tambak Rejo Village. A total of 17,4 hectares of land was set to be redistributed to the local community of the villages and is currently being processed by KSP.
The local community in Tambak Rejo has been living in the forest area since 1980. Most of them work as fishermen and farmers, extracting the benefits of forests and beaches surrounding them.
“We expect cooperation from the local authority and members of the Agrarian Reform Task Force (GTRA) to furthermore discuss and accelerate these matters,” added Usep.
The Ministry of Agrarian Affairs And Spatial Planning has vowed to issue 500 certificates of land ownership, most of which are located in TambakRejo Village. However, the ministry still needed to verify 295 houses located in forest areas to ensure the certificate issuance.
“KSP will further discuss the acceleration of the verification process for the remaining 295 houses with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) and related institutions,” stated Usep.
Eko, one of the villagers, hoped the legal certainty would further enhance the economic condition. So that people would be able to work without worrying about the possible future land dispute.
In addition, KSP is currently preparing a community empowerment scheme through the provision of communal land that can be used to process fish products, hoping it would bring added value to the community.
“We are very delighted that President Joko Widodo pays attention to the Agrarian conflicts in the country. It can’t be denied that there are still several unresolved conflicts in Malang, but we sincerely hope it will further ensure the welfare of the village residents,” said Sanusi, the Regent of Malang.
