Alleged Land Mafia Caused The Loss Of Thousands Of Hectares Of National Forest

JAKARTA - Sawit Watch reported an alleged land mafia through the issuance of Hak Guna Usaha (HGU) to a company in the Kotabaru Forest area, South Kalimantan. This report is addressed to the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (Ministry of ATR/BPN).

"The presence of Sawit Watch and Integrity today actually intends to assist the President and the Ministry of ATR/BPN in promoting the eradication of the land mafia, which often triggers agrarian conflicts. We also want to ensure that the government's side against the tyrannical acts of the mafia is truly realized, especially for the affected communities in Indonesia. Kotabaru, South Kalimantan," said Sawit Watch Executive Director, Achmad Surambo in a written statement, Wednesday, August 3.

According to Surambo, the acquisition of HGU on the Mediterranean Island, Kotabaru Regency is very problematic. Because it causes the loss of about 8,610 hectares of state forest. Moreover, President Jokowi also appealed to all line ministries or institutions to be fully committed to eradicating the land mafia.

"Illegally it became an asset in the form of plantation land based on HGU, without a decision to release forest area from the Minister of LHK. The issuance of the HGU occurred on September 4, 2018," said Surambo.

He emphasized that based on Article 21 letter a of Government Regulation Number 104 of 2015 it was stated that the decision to release forest areas must be issued after the Minister of Environment and Forestry receives the application and examines the fulfillment of administrative and technical requirements.

"Then the status of the expanse of land is no longer a forest area. So, if thousands of hectares of forest suddenly turn into HGU without the intended decision, it can be suspected that there are agents of the land mafia playing behind it," said Surambo.

He also admitted that he had brought the matter to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Attorney General's Office (Kejagung).