Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The much-criticized bill on Yogyakarta's status will regulate the royal household's ownership of vast tracts of land, an official said on Monday, in addition to voiding the ruler's hereditary claim to the governorship.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said land management was a crucial issue for the province because it was currently not clear which land belonged to the Yogyakarta sultanate and which was the property of the state.

He added that once the bill on Yogyakarta was passed, it would provide a clearer picture of the issue, including allowing the sultanate to register its property with the land office, which it has traditionally been prohibited from doing.

"When the sultanate is named a legal entity, it will get the right to land registration," the minister said.

He denied criticism that the land registration proposal and the rest of the Yogyakarta bill was a ploy to weaken the sultanate's authority over the autonomous province and give the central government a bigger say in running the region.

Gamawan said the only purpose for clearing up the sultanate's legal status was to strengthen the royal institution. "It will give the sultanate legal certainty, because so far we don't have that," he said. "We need to figure out who the rightful owners of the land in question are."

The sultanate has allowed various institutions to use large parcels of its land, including Gadjah Mada University and several government offices.

Other major tracts of its land have long been used by local farmers to graze their livestock. Ganjar Pranowo, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission II overseeing domestic affairs, said he was surprised that regulation of the sultanate's legal status had been included in the bill.

He said the government and legislators had discussed the issue during the previous House term and had agreed there was no need to formalize the sultanate's legal standing.

Ganjar said the only point on the Yogyakarta bill that was still being debated was whether the sultan should continue to enjoy an automatic claim to the post of governor, or whether the governor should be elected by the people or the provincial legislative council.

He said now that the government had brought up the subject of the sultanate's legal standing, the discussion of the bill would take longer to resolve.