Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – While the government expects to launch an ambitious national land reform program this year to distribute more than 9 million hectares of land, a researcher has raised questions about the effectiveness of the project.
"Everything is ready but we still have to wait for the President to summon all the governors," National Land Agency chief Joyo Winoto said after a judicial review hearing at the Constitutional Court.
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono needs to meet all the governors because land distribution nationwide requires solid preparation and a common understanding among all of the governors."
The government hopes to distribute 9.25 million hectares of "abandoned land" for free to some nine million families nationwide.
"The land reform program is directed toward the people, with certain criteria. The most important condition is that the families have to be landless or own only small pieces of land," Joyo said.
"Families receiving the land have the right to utilize their land in any way, such as cultivating it themselves, setting up cooperatives with other people or turning the land into business ventures. "But receivers should maintain the land titles."
Isono Handoko of the Akatiga research institute, told The Jakarta Post he had doubts about the program. "I have heard several governors say that their provinces already lack land, especially in Jakarta and West Java. In most of Java, many people don't own land. Sometimes land ownership is not the answer," he said.
"In Kalimantan, people already own land but they lack the skill to utilize it. In East Nusa Tenggara, people have the land and know how to cultivate agricultural products but they have problem shipping their products to other islands.
"And please check again whether the government is giving away land that hasn't been owned previously by people, or if it is merely certifying plots of land which people have occupied before."
Joyo said the government had drawn up 64 schemes to connect people with land, taking into account various factors such as land location and ownership.
He said the government had acquired the land from 13 sources, including plots of land previously owned by individuals but transferred to the state because the ownership had expired or because of land use violations.
The 1960 land law sets a maximum amount of agricultural land that can be owned by an individual, with the figure varying from province to province. The government will take over any amount in excess of these limits, after paying the owner compensation.
As of 2006, the National Land Agency had taken over 121,000 hectares of land and paid total compensation of some Rp 58.52 billion (US$6.5 million) to the former land owners. The government has distributed this land to 31,593 people.