Buleleng Regency Government Facilitates Acceleration of Land Certificates for Ex-East Timor Farmers

Ex-transmigrant residents in Sumberklampok Village hope for land legality. The Buleleng Regency Government held a meeting regarding the land.

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

The atmosphere during a meeting discussing the acceleration of certification for yard land requested by former transmigrant residents of East Timor in Sumberklampok Village on Monday (6/5/2024), at the official residence complex of the Regent of Buleleng.

BULELENG, KOMPAS — Buleleng Regency Government facilitates the wishes of farmers ex-East Timorese transmigrants in Sumberklampok Village< /a>, Gerokgak District, Buleleng Regency, to obtain legality for the land they occupy and manage. The land certification is only for yards occupied by 107 families.

Meanwhile, regarding the request for cultivation land certificates, Acting Regent of Buleleng Ketut Lihadnyana stated that the cultivation land is still under the status of forest land, located in a limited-production forest area.

"This (forest land) falls under the authority of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry," said Lihadnyana at the official residence complex of the Regent of Buleleng, Buleleng Regency, on Monday (6/5/2024). He conveyed this statement after leading a meeting to discuss the acceleration of land certificate issuance for yard land requested by former transmigrant residents from East Timor in Sumberklampok Village.

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

Acting Regent of Buleleng, Ketut Lihadnyana, spoke after leading a meeting to discuss the acceleration of the land certification process for the backyard land requested by former East Timor transmigrant residents in Sumberklampok Village, Gerokgak, on Monday (May 6th, 2024), at the government house complex of the Regent of Buleleng.

The meeting was held by the Buleleng Regency Government in order to resolve the request of ex-transmigrant residents of East Timor, who were the subject and object of land redistribution for agrarian reform. The meeting was also attended by the Buleleng Regency Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda), including the Head of the Buleleng Resort Police and the Head of the Buleleng District Prosecutor's Office.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from the Land Office/National Land Agency (BPN) of Buleleng Regency and representatives of East Timorese transmigrant farmers in Sumberklampok Village.

Lihadnyana added that the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has not yet released cultivated land for former East Timorese transmigrant farmers, as the land is still designated as forestry areas based on the Bali Provincial Spatial Planning (RTRW).

Also read: 2024 Agrarian Reform Synergy Movement Rolled Out Simultaneously in Indonesia

According to Lihadnyana, the land can still be cultivated by residents as their source of livelihood, even though it has not yet been certified as requested by the residents. "The land that can be processed for certification is yard land," he said.

However, efforts by the Buleleng Regency government to facilitate the process of land certificates for former East Timorese transmigrant farmers in Sumberklampok Village are being met with concern by representatives of the former East Timorese transmigrants.

KOMPAS/COKORDA YUDISTIRA

Buleleng Regency government facilitated the certification of land for agrarian reform requested by former East Timor transmigrant residents in Sumberklampok Village, Gerokgak District, Buleleng Regency on Monday (6/5/2024).

I Nengah Kisid stated that residents still wish for both their land, namely the residential and cultivation land, to be certified. "We have been occupying and managing the land for the past 25 years," said Kisid after attending a meeting at the Buleleng Regent's office.

According to Kisid, the total land area requested by the community of former East Timor transmigrant farmers in Sumberklampok Village is around 149 hectares, including 7.98 hectares of yard land that is being processed for certification. "We want a comprehensive solution so that there is no more conflict," he further stated.

Kisid is part of 107 transmigrant families from Bali who were placed in East Timor and later asked to return to Bali after East Timor gained independence from Indonesia and became Timor Leste in 1999.

Also read:Year-Old Struggle to Collect Arable Land Rights

From the Kompas.id news report on January 16, 2024, Indonesian residents who were originally transmigrants from East Timor and came from Bali were first placed in a transit area at the Buleleng Regency Transmigration Office before being relocated to a limited production forest area managed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Kisid and each family of former transmigrants in East Timor received their own land with an area of 0.54 hectares, used for residential land of 0.04 hectares and agricultural land of 0.5 hectares.

The Head of the Department of Spatial Planning and Empowerment of the Land Office/BPN of Buleleng Regency, Kus Sanyoto, stated that the BPN will soon collect data on the land in Sumberklampok Village. BPN will map and measure the land, which is requested as an object of agrarian reform, as a requirement for the adjudication hearing of redistributing agrarian reform land objects.

"The land that will be surveyed is land for the yards of 107 households. Its area is around 7.98 hectares," said Kus Sanyoto after a meeting at the regent's office in Buleleng, on Monday.

We want a comprehensive resolution so that there is no longer any conflict.

Kus Sanyoto explained that the National Land Agency (BPN) has not included the cultivated land requested by local farmers as a subject of agrarian reform, as the land has not yet been released from its forested area status by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. "This is not our authority at the BPN," he said.

Meanwhile, the Perbekel (Village Head) of Sumberklampok I, Wayan Sawitra Yasa, expressed his respect for the efforts of the Buleleng Regency Government in resolving land issues in Sumberklampok Village. Sawitra stated that the residents of Sumberklampok Village have long awaited legal certainty over their residential and cultivated land.

"However, because the cultivated land has not yet been released from its status as a forest area, we are waiting for and following the regulations," said Sawitra at the official residence of the Regent of Buleleng on Monday (5/6/2024). "We sincerely hope that the provincial and district governments will continue to oversee the certification process."

KOMPAS/PRADIPTA PANDU

One female farmer manages land in Gunung Anten Village, Cimarga District, Lebak Regency, Banten, on Sunday (7/1/2024). Several farmers in Gunung Anten Village have received land redistribution as the realization of agrarian reform program in October 2023.