Commission II Of The House Of Representatives Proposes Special Task Force To Poor Land Mafia

Deputy Chairman of Commission X DPR RI Dede Yusuf in the Education Financing Committee RDP with the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Wednesday (19/6/2024). (ANTARA-Screenshot)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the DPR RI, Dede Yusuf proposed the establishment of a special task force (task force) that handles law enforcement in eradicating the land mafia. He supports the impoverished land mafia.

"In my opinion, a special task force needs to be formed that is serious in giving strict sanctions to the land mafia. This task force will be at the forefront of eradicating their practices," said Dede Yusuf, Friday, November 1.

Dede assessed that the land mafia law enforcement task force was needed to facilitate coordination between the Government and law enforcement officials. He hopes that this task force can be a breakthrough in eradicating the land mafia because the threat of punishment is quite significant for the perpetrators.

"Collaboration is the key to dealing with land mafia problems. So there must be coordination with law enforcement agencies that are competent in this matter and there must be a joint commitment, cannot be done alone," he said.

According to Dede, the land mafia often occurs due to a lack of a deterrent effect in law enforcement for perpetrators. Therefore, he considered, the impoverishment efforts could be carried out with a TPPU offense.

"We see this idea is good, in principle we support it. It's just a matter of coordination with law enforcement parties because after all the Ministers can't implement the law, at least revoke the permit," said the legislator from the West Java II electoral district.

From the report of the Ministry of ATR/BPN to Commission II of the DPR, this land mafia network is moving in a structured and systematic manner so that there needs to be strong law enforcement. There are several factors that are considered to be the cause of the difficulty of eradicating the land mafia so far.

"The factors are not measured properly, are not properly recorded, not well guarded or there may be persons. So far, the legal snares may also be too ordinary, the threat of a maximum sentence of 5 years or a fine of how much," explained Dede.

"In fact, according to the Minister, the land mafia has the unity of the land mafia. There is a rich organization. This is what makes them worthy of poverty," he added.

Dede said the land mafia had become a rooted problem and hampered agrarian stability in Indonesia. According to him, land mafia practices not only harm the country financially, but also often have an impact on the wider community who have lost their land rights.

"Meanwhile, there were a lot of people who were harmed, that's why yesterday the Minister (ATR) said that using his offense was money laundering or money laundering," said Dede.

Dede added, if using TPPU's legal snares, there must be a report on the flow of perpetrator funds and financial reports from PPATK. Because there are several types of land mafia cases, including those that harm the state through the illegal control of certain groups against land.

Dede said that land owners often do not have Cultivation Rights (HGU) but they make businesses on their land. Their modus operandi often involves falsifying documents, embezzlement, and illegal occupation. Dede said this was what harmed the country with a lot of nominal value.

"Pajak tidak dibayar, tidak punya HGU tapi produksi jalan terus. Itu kan banyak sekali perkebunan dan pertanahan yang mungkin itu milik negara, milik rakyat," kata mantan Wagub Jawa Barat ini.

Dede explained, according to data from the Anti Land Mafia Task Force, most cases involved document falsification (66.7 percent), followed by embezzlement (19.1 percent) and illegal occupation (11 percent).

Dede said that this land concerns the issue of state sovereignty, where a country exists because it owns land, society, and income of resources. This means that if the land is only controlled by a handful of people, there will be many people who are not yet prosperous.

"It feels unfair as a country of national and state life is only determined by a handful of people who control millions of hectares of land," said Dede.

As is known, the Government through the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) Nusron Wahid plans to ensnare the land mafia with the offense of Money Laundering (TPPU). Efforts to eradicate the land mafia are considered important in order to have a big impact.

To start this step, the Government will coordinate intensively with law enforcers in Indonesia such as the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the National Police, to the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK).