Indonesia passes agrarian reform law amid concerns over land protections

Indonesia's parliament passed the Agrarian Reform Regulation Law on Sept. 22, aiming to resolve land conflicts that the Agrarian Reform Consortium says affected 7.4 million hectares and 1.8 million households between 2015 and 2024. The law creates a new Agrarian Reform Implementation Institution answerable directly to the president, tasked with planning, monitoring and mediating disputes, including those involving state-owned enterprises.

Civil society coalitions monitoring the bill warn that maximum landholding limits will be set later by government regulation, and that a Sept. 19 draft exempted state-owned companies, cooperatives and listed firms from those limits. They also flag that language protecting the social function of state-controlled land was reportedly moved out of the law's main text and into an explanatory section, making it harder to challenge.

Advocates question whether a body accountable to the president can impartially referee conflicts in which the state itself is a party, pointing to longstanding disputes in villages including Rancapinang, Bara-Baraya, Lekok and Nguling. The full enacted text of the law has not yet been made public.

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