President Jokowi: Land Mafia Reduced Because People Hold Certificates

Screenshots - President Joko Widodo delivered a speech on the agenda of handing over a redistribution electronic land certificate in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, Tuesday (30/4/2024). (ANTARA/Andi Firdaus)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo said that the practice of land mafia in Indonesia has decreased in the last 10 years in line with the government's consistency in increasing the distribution of land ownership certificates to rights holders.

"Earlier, the Minister of ATR/Head of BPN said that there, taking care of the land mafia, there taking care of the mafia, still, but it has been very reduced because everyone already has a certificate," said President Jokowi in his speech at the delivery of electronic certificates in Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, April 30.

Based on a report from the National Land Agency (BPN) in the last 10 years, said Jokowi, there are 80 million out of a total of 126 million lands in Indonesia that do not yet have ownership certificates.

The President said the absence of land certificates for rights holders had resulted in land disputes in various regions in the country.

"This is important, because what happened for 10 years I became president, when I went to the regions, entered the village, entered the village, the contents were only land disputes, land disputes, land conflicts. For what reason? 'Panjenengan boten' holds a certificate," he said.

The absence of the land certificate, Jokowi continued to be influenced by the ability of BPN which in that period was only able to complete an average of 500 thousand certificates a year.

"After I checked at BPN, it was true, of the 126 million lands that should have held certificates, only 46 million were held, meaning that 80 million had not been held, 80 million all of Indonesia had not yet held certificates," he said.

However, thanks to the development of digitization of BPN services, said Jokowi, the current certificate printing process can be faster to achieve the completion target of 126 million certificates by 2025 at the latest.

"I ordered the Minister of BPN at all costs, I asked for more than 10 million a year. Finally I can, especially now that electronic certificates like this are very fast, with digitalization getting faster," he said.

President Jokowi has also received the commitment of the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono to complete the process of distributing land certificates this year.

"He said earlier that maybe 126 million has been completed this year, if you don't miss it, yes next year, the new president will take care of it later, the remaining a little, at least the remaining maybe three million, the top six million, will be completed next year," he said.