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Court orders landholding data disclosure
Environmental groups have urged the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry to disclose data on landholding in Papua and West Papua following a court ruling that the data be treated as public information
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span>Environmental groups have urged the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry to disclose data on landholding in Papua and West Papua following a court ruling that the data be treated as public information.
The Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN Jakarta) ruled on Feb. 19 in favor of Greenpeace Indonesia in a dispute case against the Central Information Commission (KIP) and the ministry involving the disclosure of right to cultivate (HGU) land permits in the country’s easternmost provinces.
In October, the KIP had rejected a request by the environmental group for data on land permits in the provinces, arguing that the data was not public information. Greenpeace then brought the case to the PTUN Jakarta.
The court ruling is in line with a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that mandates disclosure of HGU land permit data on oil palm plantations in the country.
Greenpeace Indonesia forestry campaigner Asep Komarudin said Greenpeace welcomed the ruling, as it finally restored the Supreme Court’s decision that the ministry had previously ignored.
“The PTUN judges found that the KIP’s argument had no legal basis. Hence, the map must also be disclosed, and the ministry must reveal the data to the public,” Asep told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“This is important, because the map can finally show the locations and [size of] landholdings,” he added.
Asep said that, with the map, the public, including Greenpeace, could confirm landholding data and use it as reference in cases of conflict between companies and residents.
“Sometime [companies or individuals] claim to already have an HGU. With this data, we can [independently] verify that,” he said.
However, the KIP and the ministry could appeal for a cassation to challenge the ruling.
“We hope the ministry will not file for a cassation. That would raise suspicion as to why there’s always such opposition [to disclosing landholding data],” Asep said.
A report from Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) found that only 323,000 hectares — around 11 percent — of least 2.9 million ha of oil palm plantation areas in Papua were under proper HGU permits.
In West Papua, from at least 485,000 ha of oil palm plantations, only 139,000 ha or 29 percent were certified as HGU land.
FWI campaigner Agung Ady Setiawan said that FWI had only taken bits of data available on the ministry’s website — which had since been taken down. He expressed hope that a publicly available landholding map could give a clearer picture of landholdings in the country.
“We published those temporary data hoping for feedback or a clarification from the ministry, so if the information were inaccurate, they could reveal accurate data,” Agung said.
He said that some regional PTUN court had already issued similar orders on land ownership, but the hindrance was again with the government, which frequently declined to disclose such data.
In 2016, the PTUN Jakarta also ordered the public disclosure of HGU landholdings in Kalimantan.
According to Agriculture Ministry data, there were about 14.6 million ha of oil palm plantations in the country last year.
“However, we don’t know whether they all have proper HGU certificates or not,” Agung said.
Agung added that, even if the ministry decided to challenge the PTUN ruling again, the FWI would still find ways to request the public disclosure of data.
“We will still challenge it in the future, regardless,” Agung said.
Separately, Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry spokesperson Yulia Jaya Nirmawati claimed that the ministry had yet to receive a copy of the ruling. She declined to comment further.
