If the land mafia is still around, thump them at the very second, said Indonesian President

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer – Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) instructed government officials to not be hesitant in taking action against land mafias that complicated the residents’ efforts to register their land certificates.

“If the land mafia is still around, thump them at the very second. They are complicating the certificate registration process. We cannot let our residents to be neglected while registering their certificates,” the president stated in his remarks while handing over land certificates for residents at Gelora Delta Stadium, Sidoarjo, East Java, on Monday.

According to the Presidential Secretariat’s statement received here, the president instructed officials of the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency to expedite the land certification process.

He highlighted that land certificates had not be issued for seven million land plots in East Java alone, for which the ministry should expedite the certification process.

“I have instructed the minister to expedite (the process) to ensure all residents receive the proof of their land ownership in the form of a certificate,” Jokowi stated.

He also reminded residents to properly secure their land certificate that contained important information about the land ownership status.

Land conflicts and disputes in some regions occurred due to the residents’ failure to produce proof of their ownership of the disputed land, he pointed out.

This is important, (the certificate is) the proof of land ownership rights. If someone claims ‘this is my land’, (show them the certificate and say) ‘no, this is my land, and this is the certificate’; (it is certain by then), they can do nothing. This is the legal proof of land ownership.

Indonesian President explained that the government had initiated a land certification reform, and in 2016, he targeted the agrarian affairs ministry to issue five million land certificates annually.

“At that time, in 2016, I set the target to five million, and after some period, it was reached. I increased the target to seven million, it was reached again. It increased again to nine million, and it was achieved again. It means that if we want, we surely achieve our goal,” he remarked.