Land is a "Soulmate"

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Students and farmers who are grouped in the East Java Farmers Alliance stage a rally to celebrate National Farmer Day in front of the East Java Legislative Council building in Surabaya in September (24/9/2019).

Clothing, food and housing are three basic human needs that are directly or indirectly related to land.

The most valuable treasure for some people is land, often even more valuable than family, brotherhood or friendship. Nations fight each other sometimes because they struggle over territory, especially land. A family can sometimes be scattered because of fighting over inherited land. Conflicts often occur because of land affairs.

A Javanese proverb illustrates how valuable land is: sadumuk bathuk, sanyari bumi, rila den labuhi pati. Cases involving land will be defended or fought for even at the cost of life. If taken forcefully, it will surely be defended to death. Land is like a "soulmate".

The government is well aware of the value of land for citizens. Since Indonesia\'s independence, land is the most regulated legal object. No less than 89 laws have been formed since 1951 to regulate land, directly or indirectly, especially to avoid conflict. The number does not include other regulations under the law. The latest is Law No. 2/2012 concerning land procurement for development for public interest.

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Residents show the land certificates given to them by President Joko Widodo in Lamongan City Square, in East Java, in 2019

With the so many rules, citizens\' rights or customary rights to their land should be protected. Therefore, the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) report, which is quoted by this daily that agrarian conflicts in Indonesia are getting worse, is quite surprising. It was reported that agrarian conflicts in the era of President Joko Widodo (2015-2019) reached 1,960 cases, more than in the era of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2009-2014) with as many as 1,308 cases. In 2019, agrarian conflicts were dominated by the plantation, property and infrastructure sectors (Kompas, 7/1/2020).

Law No. 5/1960 concerning basic regulations on agrarian principles (UUPA), which still applies, states that agrarian law not only deals with land, but also with water, space within a certain limit, and its natural wealth. The UUPA recognizes citizens\' rights to land, whether it is the freehold title, cultivation right titles, building rights titles, rights-to-use titles, or other rights. However, all land rights have a social function, and in order not to harm the public interest, ownership of the land that exceeds the limits is not permitted.

Law No 2/2012 adds, land acquisition for public interest is carried out based on the principles of humanity, justice, expediency, certainty, openness, agreement, participation, welfare, sustainability, and harmony.

Article 18 of the UUPA ensures that, for public interest, the interests of the nation and state, the common interests of the people, land rights can be revoked with proper compensation. Law No 2/2012 adds, land acquisition for public interest is carried out based on the principles of humanity, justice, expediency, certainty, openness, agreement, participation, welfare, sustainability, and harmony.

If agrarian conflicts increase due to protracted problems and the emergence of conflicts due to infrastructure development, it means that there are principles in land acquisition that are not being adhered to. This must be resolved immediately so that the conflict does not become more widespread, which can damage the cohesion of the people.