Year Ender - INDONESIAN LAND CERTIFICATE PROGRAM FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE by Fardah

Jakarta, Dec 29, 2017 (Antara) - The government has issued and distributed at least 4.2 million land certificates across Indonesia in 2017, out of the targeted five million certificates, according to Sofyan Djalil, Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister.

         The land certificate provision is part of the agrarian reform being carried out by the government for economic justice and equality, as well as for the reduction of economic gap between the rich and the poor.

         The government's economic equality and equity program is based on three things, namely land, job opportunities and human resource improvement.

         By having land certificates, the public will have legal certainty over the land areas and could use the certificate to have access to capital from financial institutions.

         The recipients of the millions of free land certificates were workers employed in the field of agriculture, plantation, aquaculture and cattle breeding, as well as manual laborers, and those living in natural disaster-prone areas, who do not own any land.

         "The certificates that were issued have been distributed to the Indonesian people," Minister Djalil said, while presenting several land certificates to the local inhabitants of West Sumatra on December 23.

         The land mapping carried out by the agrarian agency has reached 5.2 million so far, he added.

         However, the ministry still holds certificates of several land areas due to land ownership conflicts, including those claimed to be owned by the adat or traditional communities.

         The minister stated his office had found several land ownership problems, particularly in West Sumatra, East Nusa Tenggara and Bali.

         For Bali, the ministry has solved the problem by issuing land certificates to certain Balinese villages, and these village authorities will decide who will be allowed to use the land areas.

         President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has set a target of issuing eight million land certificates in 2018 and nine million in 2019.   
    "There are 126 million citizens who require land certificates, while now, we have only issued 46 million. It means that we still have to issue 80 million certificates more. If we had only issued 500 thousand certificates per year, it would take 160 years to distribute all of them. I do not want that to happen," Jokowi revealed.

         President Jokowi has targeted the completion of the distribution of land certificates to land owners by 2025.

         "My target is that the land certificate (distribution) must be completed in 2025; this means that BPN's officers (the National Land Agency) will not sleep well until then, as I will follow up on the process," Jokowi remarked during the ceremony to distribute land certificates in Pontianak, West Kalimantan on Dec 28, 2017.

         With the support of all the relevant stakeholders, Minister Djalil is optimistic that the target is achievable.

         At the end of this year, the president distributed 110,394 land certificates in West Kalimantan, while at the same time, six cabinet ministers distributed the certificates to land owners in six other provinces.

         Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo distributed 469 thousand land certificates in East Java, while the agriculture minister distributed 90,543 land certificates in Makassar.

         Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri distributed 63,926 certificates; Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Asman Abnur distributed 82,121 certificates in Jambi; Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya distributed 122 thousand certificates in Lampung; and State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno distributed 140,335 certificates in Palembang.

         "We have targeted the distribution of five million certificates this year, seven million certificates next year and nine million certificates in 2019. The BPN officers will not sleep well, I do not know for how long," the president quipped.

         Jokowi highlighted that he had recruited thousands of new measuring clerks to speed up the process of issuing land certificates.

         "The minister told me, 'Sir, we lack measuring clerks'. So I have added 4,600 clerks, and if it is still inadequate, we will add more clerks so that there is no excuse for people not having their land certificates," the president affirmed.

         For years, BPN had only issued 400 to 500 thousand land certificates per year, he added.

         Earlier, on December 23, President Jokowi distributed 705 thousand land certificates to five provinces and 37 districts simultaneously from Semarang, Central Java Province.

         "They come from five provinces and 37 districts. A total of 10,350 certificates are for Central Java. Others are for Bengkulu, Yogyakarta, Padang (West Sumatra), and Bau-Bau (Southeast Sulawesi). A total of 705 thousand certificates have been distributed today. Please raise them and show them," he mentioned. 
    "Our target for distribution this year is five million. Next year, it will be seven million, followed by nine million the year after, and 10 million every year thenceforth," he explained.

    (f001/INE/B003)
EDITED BY INE
(T.F001/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 29-12-2017