2018 Target: Government Distributes 7 Million Land Certificates

The Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Honorary Council, Amien Rais, considers President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) land certificate distribution program a deception (lie). This statement received a strong response from the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. Responding to this, Jokowi stated that criticism must be data-based and not "asbun" (baseless).

Based on data from the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), the government targeted the certification of 5 million plots of land in 2017. However, only 4.2 million certificates could be distributed to the public out of 5.2 million plots of land registered for certification. Approximately one million plots of land could not be certified due to disputes or because the owners were located outside the area.

This year, President Jokowi aims to distribute seven million certificates to the public and nine million next year. This intensive land certificate distribution program is a government initiative to reduce land ownership disputes. With certificates, people will feel more secure about their assets and can use them as collateral for bank loans or People's Business Credit (KUR).