Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – A century-old mess in the land certification system coupled with corrupt officials and opportunistic local people have exacerbated conflicts over land ownership in Jakarta, taking its toll on poor people.
The end of Dutch colonization introduced fresh air for the new country but created a major headache for the new state, to resolve unsolved land ownership problems.
The colonial system bequeathed a Dutch agrarian system, dividing land ownership into two types – state and private. But many land ownership claims remained unrecorded.
So when the government wanted to start managing the agrarian sector in the 1960s, it had to face a hard work on certification, a process that is still incomplete.
"Many land plots in the capital are still uncertified. This is the main reason why there are so many land disputes in the city," agrarian law professor at the University of Indonesia, Arie Hutagalung said.
Despite decades of implementing the certification process, the Jakarta office of the National Land Agency (BPN) has only managed to register 69 percent of land areas in the city, leaving the rest prone to conflict.
No recent data on land disputes in Jakarta is available, but the latest media report estimates at least 120 reported disputes filed in 2007.
Conflicts usually revolve around two or more parties claiming ownership of the same land. Conflicting parties can be individuals, companies or government agencies. Some city land disputes have ended in deadly clashes. Most victims are poor.
The bloody Koja clash in April is an extreme example where a land dispute ended in tragedy. This happened when the authorities clashed with locals over enforcement of a land purchase while locals believed that the site in question was the last resting place of an historical Muslim preacher Mbah Priuk.
The attempt to claim the site for state seaport operator PT Pelindo, which claimed to have purchased the land led to an incident with three people killed and 200 injured.
The director for Rapid Agrarian Conflict Appraisal, Nur Amalia blamed the government for failing to enforce clear regulations.
"People may still encounter problem even with certified lands, if they find there is more than one certificate...BPN has its own weaknesses," she said, referring to corrupt officials that might forge land certificates and sell them to people.
Nur Amalia believes there would be no land crimes if the land agency could apply good governance in the land registration system.
"Everybody has gone online nowadays. Why can't they apply this technology in the system? It will be effective to combat misappropriation if people can check the land status online," she said.
However, BPN head Joyo Winoto said earlier that the agency would soon be able to resolve more than 3,500 land disputes this year.
The agency recorded almost 7,500 cases throughout Indonesia in 2009.