Indonesia Parliament passes law aimed at resolving land conflicts

JAKARTA - Indonesian lawmakers passed into law on Sept 22 a provision aimed at resolving land conflicts across the country, setting up a government body under the president to undertake such tasks.The law maps out agrarian reform priorities to address inequality in land ownership and control, agrarian conflicts, abandoned land and poverty, said Member of Parliament Iman Sukri in a streamed hearing.An agency to address agrarian reforms will be set up and report to the president, and will be responsible for land planning, land monitoring and resolving agrarian conflicts, Iman said.The law will also ensure equal distribution of land ownership by limiting the size of holdings, Iman said.The law “answers the roots of agrarian inequality that has not been resolved completely”, Iman said.Reuters could not immediately see contents of the law.Nusron Wahid, an Indonesian minister overseeing agrarian affairs, said in the same hearing that the government will formulate technical details such as maximum and minimum limits of land ownership.“The government hopes that with a stronger legal foundation, small farmers... fishermen, Indigenous people, and disenfranchised communities... can feel the state’s presence through a just agrarian reform”, he said.Conflicts over land ownership are related to overlapping claims over forest areas, state assets and private land, often involving local communities, private sectors and state-owned companies, Nusron has said.Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has ordered the seizure of land from miners and companies that the authorities have said violated forest utilisation rules. REUTERS