Land Criticism Abandoned Taken By The State, Commission II: The Government Just Focuses On HGU-HGB, Don't Own It

JAKARTA - Member of Commission II of the House of Representatives Muhammad Khozin criticized the statement by the Minister of Agrarian Spatial Planning/Head of the Land Agency (ATR/BPN) Nusron Wahid regarding the 'discussed land' to be taken by the state, which is considered disturbing to the public.

Khozin reminded the government to focus on land that is included in the category of Cultivation Rights (HGU), Building Use Rights (HGB), and Use Rights (HP). While land is certified property rights, it is entirely the right of the community.

"The government should just focus on land other than property rights. Meanwhile, HGU, HGB, & cellphones that are not used or whose validity period is dead so that they can be used for the public interest," Khozin told reporters, Friday, August 8.

According to Khozin, the policy of abandoned land also has juridical and prexical issues. As mentioned in PP Number 20 of 2021 concerning Control of Regions and Abandoned Land regulates the obligations of the holder of permits/concession/business licensing as well as the holder of the management rights.

"There is a juridical issue of the policy, namely the object of controlling abandoned land, also targeting property rights contained in Article 7 paragraph (2) PP Number 20 of 2021 concerning Control of Abandoned Areas and Lands," said Khozin.

Meanwhile, in terms of prexis, the policy of the Minister of ATR/BPN is also not easy to do. He said that the abandoned HGU lands have not been optimized by the government.

"So it's better to just focus on HGU and HGB, not targeting property rights land," said Khozin.

This member of the Commission in the DPR who deals with land and agrarian affairs reminded that ownership rights to land are also protected by law. Therefore, land rights that are not used or neglected for more than two years cannot be taken by the government.

"The right to ownership of land is protected by law," said the legislator from the East Java IV electoral district.

Previously, the Minister of ATR/BPN Nusron Wahid stated that land that was unemployed or did not have activities for two years would be taken over by the state. He said, basically all land in Indonesia is state property, while people are only given ownership status on land so that they can be taken over by the state if not used.

Even Nusron had issued a statement to the public which was quite surprising, namely 'emang mbah or ancestors can make land?'.

In this regard, Khozin regretted what the Minister of ATR / BPN said about land rights belonging to which the government would also target if the government did not install a boundary marker, even mentioning whether the ancestors could make land. He asked public officials to issue narratives that educate the public.

"Please to the Minister of ATR/BPN if you take an angle of a narrative that is more educational and solution, do not create a narrative that has the potential to be provocative to the public," concluded Khozin.