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Continue land certification for more productivity, citizen participation
Shifting to a legal status such as by owning land certificates encourages political participation; the individuals would vote more considerately, for instance, as they would feel their choices would affect their lives much more.
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Citizen of Sumbawa Besar, West Nusa Tenggara, shows their newly issued land certificate on Monday, July 30, 2018. President Joko Widodo handed around 14.000 land certificate to ensure the ownership right of land owner. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Oct. 20, 2019 announced his new Cabinet, which we hope will continue previous good policies — including the distribution of land certificates.
Based on the government’s data, in 2017 and 2018 a total of 12 million land certificates were distributed, while in 2019, the government aimed to distribute another 9 million.
Though efforts toward land certification started since the passing of the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law, until 2014 only 46 million plots of land had been certified, equivalent to 36.5 percent of the total of an estimated 126 million plots in Indonesia.
So far, President Jokowi’s land certification program has increased the number of certified plots to 65.8 million.
Therefore, as many as 60.2 million plots (or 48 percent of all plots) still need to be certified. The government hopes that all plots of land in Indonesia can be certified by 2025. This policy has at least three benefits. First, it protects landowner rights illegal takeovers were rampant under the New Order.
When people are unsure about the legal protection of their land, they will not try their best to make it more productive. They will also fear to make long-term investments on their land; thus, it is hard to expect maximum productivity from the land.
Second, land certification can support financial inclusion by opening access to formal banking services as the land would provide people with collateral.
