TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Calls grow for Prabowo to expedite land conflict resolution
Indonesian civic organizations have pushed President Prabowo Subianto’s administration to fulfill his campaign promise to immediately resolve land conflicts across the archipelago, suggesting that the President take direct action to bypass bureaucratic muddle on the issue.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Farmers and their families take shelter from the rain during their protest against the government's failure to implement agrarian reforms as they commemorate National Farmers' Day in front of the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Sept. 24, 2024. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
T
he administration of President Prabowo Subianto is facing calls to swiftly resolve rampant agrarian conflicts and land ownership disputes across the country, with environmental groups urging the President to take direct action to bypass bureaucratic hurdles and “silo mentalities” among ministries that hinder progress on the matter.
Various ministries and state agencies, ranging from the Forestry Ministry to the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry, have hands in resolving land conflicts across the archipelago, as such conflicts involve numerous parties from indigenous communities, local people and private sector players.
But the multi-agency approach on land management has led to overlapping regulations and inefficiencies, according to Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPU) secretary-general Dewi Kartika.
“The agrarian reform movement must be implemented systematically on a national scale and led by the President,” she said during a discussion at the 2025 Asia Land Forum in Jakarta on Feb. 19.
Prabowo included agrarian reform in the second goal of his administration’s eight core missions, known as Asta Cita, that emphasizes food self-sufficiency through improving farmers’ productivity. The Asta Cita’s sixth mission also calls for bottom-up development, prioritizing village and grassroots economic growth to eliminate poverty.
To realize these programs, environmental groups have urged the government to resolve ongoing land conflicts and reduce inequalities in land ownership.
According to the latest data from the KPA, 68 percent of land in Indonesia is owned by 1 percent of the population. Most of the land is controlled by corporations, while each of 17 million smallholder farmers own less than 0.5 hectares despite their critical role in food production.
