House Commision II head Rifqinizamy explained that the land amnesty would target people with years of unregistered ownership of land without taking into account their past records. — The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA: The House of Representatives has suggested offering a land amnesty to legalise ownership over millions of hectares of land with no right to cultivate (HGU) and to collect more state revenue.
House Commision II head Rifqinizamy Karsayuda said an amnesty would encourage de facto landowners to register their plots and obtain certificates, which in turn would make more objects subject to taxation and therefore could bolster state revenue.
“And this is important for all of us. If Commission XI introduces a tax amnesty, I think Commission II will introduce a land amnesty,” he said at the House of Representatives legislative complex in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by news agency Antara.
Rifqinizamy explained that the land amnesty would target people with years of unregistered ownership of land without taking into account their past records.
He went on to say that illegal land owners had “enjoyed not paying taxes, using their influence and power (to avoid taxes)”.
Rifqinizamy said illegal landowners would be given a six-month to one-year deadline to have their plots registered, before the state would take ownership of the lands “for the national interest”.
Controlling illegal land ownership in the country was no easy task, he said, due to potential conflicts with individuals that would be highly protective of the lands they claim.
President Prabowo Subianto has expressed concern over land held without HGU licences in the country and stated his plan to coordinate on the matter with Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Nusron Wahid and House Commission II.
“Because more than three million ha can be immediately granted HGU and we will receive state revenue (amounting to) more than 1.8 quadrillion rupiah (US$111.4bil),” Prabowo said.
Nusron Wahid called the plan “a good suggestion”, but he told The Jakarta Post that there were no concrete talks yet at the ministry regarding a land amnesty.
“We need to first determine the (criteria) under which an amnesty would be granted. If the amnesty is for (land) involving prolonged conflicts, give the state a chance to rearrange (the situation with a land amnesty),” Nusron said.
During the recent release of the agrarian and spatial planning year-end report, Nusron stated the area of idle land in the country to be 855 ha, which could potentially be utilised for national programmes like food plantations or housing or be distributed to new owners.
The ministry said it sought to revamp its spatial planning by enhancing the One Map Policy.
Former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched the One Map Policy Geoportal in 2018 as a national information portal to serve as a point of reference for land use planning by all government institutions and the general public.
“In our country, there is too much overlap in land use planning.
“The problem occurs everywhere,” Jokowi said when introducing the policy.
As of December 2024, the map only included Sulawesi, which Nusron blamed on budget constraints when speaking at the year-end event. –– The Jakarta Post/ANN
