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Listyowati Sumanto (2022). Agrarian Reform in Historical Perspective,
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Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 2 Number 7, July, 2022
p- ISSN 2775-3735- e-ISSN 2775-3727
AGRARIAN REFORM IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE,
CONCEPT AND IMPLEMENTATION
Listyowati Sumanto
Universitas Trisakti, Jakarta
Email: listyowati@trisakti.ac.id
ABSTRACT
Land reform in a broad sense is called Agrarian Reform, and
in a narrow sense it is called Land reform. This study aims to
describe Agrarian Reform in the perspective of history,
concept and implementation in Indonesia. This type of
research uses normative legal research, is descriptive. The
data were analyzed qualitatively. Drawing conclusions using
deductive logic. The results show that Landreform has
experienced a history of policy change. Agrarian Reform is a
restructuring of the structure of control, ownership, use and
utilization of land that is more equitable through asset
management and is accompanied by structuring access for
the prosperity of the Indonesian people. The substance of
Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 concerning
Agrarian Reform places more emphasis on aspects of asset
management and land access by conducting land
redistribution, land legalization, and community
empowerment compared to aspects of handling agrarian
disputes and conflicts as a source of land ownership
inequality. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate
proportionally regarding the handling of disputes and
conflicts. After the issuance of Law no. 11 of 2020 concerning
Job Creation, the land object for Agrarian Reform is
undergoing expansion.
KEYWORDS
Target, Realization, Agrarian Reform
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Listyowati Sumanto
Agrarian Reform in Historical Perspective, Concept and Implementation 1.427
INTRODUCTION
Lenin first coined the term land reform in a communist country for political
purposes and to attract the attention of the people who were suffering because of the
pressure of the landlords, the slogan "land to the tiller" was used (Dorner, 1992). Land
reform can be interpreted in a broad sense called Agrarian Reform, and in a narrow sense
called Land reform. Agrarian reform can be grouped according to the process: (i) radical
land reform of land belonging to large landowners taken over by the state, and distributed
to landless farmers; (ii) land restitution of extensive plantation land originating from
community land is taken over by the state, then the land is returned to the original owner
with compensation (compensation); (iii) land colonization opening and developing a new
area, then people from densely populated areas are moved to the new area, and are given
land with a certain area (similar to the transmigration program in Indonesia); (iv) market-
based land reform is carried out based on the help of market mechanisms (Noer Fauzi,
200).
In general, a country has carried out agrarian reform before carrying out its
industrialization in the context of increasing productivity and people's welfare, including
Africa and Latin America, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan. Taiwan started in 1949
through the land program for cultivators, the sale of state arable land, reduction of rental
fees, as a result most of the farmers became independent producers and the cultivators
owned the land. Japan's success is the Land Reform Act of 1946 which states that
landowners who exceed the maximum area must sell the excess land to the government
with reasonable compensation. Steps to avoid land speculation were implemented by
South Korea in 1989-1990 through the Land Value Increment Tax (on land not used, a
high tax was applied), the Comprehensive Land Holding Tax (a high tax was imposed on
any excess of the minimum area of agricultural land), as well as agricultural land worked
by not a farmer.
In Indonesia, of course, this understanding is different, because the definition of
land reform in a broad sense according to the Food and Agriculture Organization includes
interrelated programs aimed at removing all obstacles that arise from the weakness of the
land structure in the economic and social fields. Meanwhile, the definition of land reform
in a narrow sense includes changes in land ownership and control as well as legal
relations related to land tenure. Land reform aims to create a just and prosperous society
and increase the standard of living of farmers.
Basically, the implementation of the land reform program in Indonesia and Japan
is no different from land reform in communist countries (Rachman, 2011). In Indonesia
and Japan, former land owners are given compensation. Land taken over by the
government is redistributed to farmers with property rights by collecting income. The aim
of land reform is to expand the land ownership of farmers, while recognizing the
existence of property rights, and even strengthening them through land regulation and
registration; While land reform in communist countries (Russia, China), land was
confiscated without compensation. Land is not redistributed to farmers with property
rights, but is cultivated collectively and land reform aims to abolish property rights to
land.
Land reform in the narrow sense of Law Number 56 Prp of 1960 concerning
Determination of Agricultural Land Area Limits aims to strengthen and expand land
ownership for all Indonesian people, especially the peasants. However, some past facts
show that land obtained by farmers from land reform activities, then the land is sold back
to other parties, because they do not have access to agricultural technology, financial
resources, business management, economic activities, so that in the end land reform does
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1.428 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
not help improve farmers' welfare. This condition encourages land reform in a broad
sense which can be equated with agrarian reform
RESEARCH METHOD
This research uses normative and descriptive legal research type. As a normative
juridical research, this research is based on the analysis of legal norms, both law in the
sense of law as it is written in the books (in legislation) (Budianto, 2020). Thus the object
analyzed is the legal norms in the legislation that are concretely applied by the
Government in this case the Ministry of Agrarian Spatial Planning/National Land
Agency. In-depth understanding of norms and regulations regarding Agrarian Reform by
basing it on Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Regulations on Agrarian Principles
which is further regulated in implementing regulations related to Agrarian Reform.
Secondary data obtained through literature study consists of primary legal materials (laws
and regulations), secondary legal materials (books, journals, mass-media).
Data collection techniques through literature study. Qualitative data analysis went
through three stages including data reduction, data presentation and drawing
conclusions/verification. Data reduction is defined as the process of focusing on
simplification, transformation of data that emerges from written notes in the field.
Presentation of data as a collection of information arranged in a unified and simplified
form, selectively so as to allow conclusions to be drawn. Drawing conclusions using
deductive logic, namely the way of thinking from general statements drawn to specific
conclusions.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Land policies that are only focused on economic growth in an effort to increase
productivity, basically have an effect on inequality in land ownership and control,
increasing unemployment and poverty in rural areas. Agricultural reform efforts so far
have focused on developing policies aimed at restructuring land ownership and use (land
reform) (Bottazzi & Rist, 2012). In the sense that the neglect of the arrangement of
production assets, results in the loss of public access to land.
1. History of Agrarian Reform Policy
1945-1960 Period: The main foundation of agrarian reform (land reform) is stated
in the 1945 Constitution Article 33 paragraph (3) that "Earth, water and natural resources
contained therein are controlled by the state and used for the greatest prosperity of the
people. The land policy in Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution is further
elaborated in Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning the Basic Regulations on Agrarian
Principles (UUPA) focused on improving control and ownership from the colonialist
system to a national system. Land controlled and owned by foreigners and foreign legal
entities was nationalized. Land ownership that is not in accordance with the spirit of
nationalism, such as land ownership exceeding the maximum area, perdikan villages,
private lands, self-government is reorganized by the state for the national interest. The
period 1960-1967: known as the Land Reform Period, land policy was aimed at the
distribution and redistribution of land for farm laborers, small farmers, cultivators. 1967-
1997 period: land policy was based on national economic growth, aimed at supporting
investment or investment policies, as well as land rights certificates for people from
economically weak groups. 1997-2005 period: land policy in the reform era, aimed at
land registration policies controlled by the lower economic class. Period 2005-present:
Listyowati Sumanto
Agrarian Reform in Historical Perspective, Concept and Implementation 1.429
Land policy is aimed at "land for justice and people's welfare", through land
redistribution, controlling abandoned land, increasing the legalization of community
assets, resolving disputes implemented through Agrarian Reform (Neilson, 2016).
The enactment of MPR Decree No. IX/MPR/2001 concerning Agrarian Reform
and Natural Resource Management "it is hoped that this will improve the inequality in the
structure of ownership, control, use, and utilization of agrarian resources and can prevent
various conflicts in this regard". In an effort to improve the quality of life and develop
Indonesia as proclaimed by President Joko Widodo in Nawa Cita (2014).
As a form of government commitment that has been promised through Nawacita
since 2014, Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 concerning Agrarian Reform was
formed. Agrarian Reform is present through Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018
concerning Agrarian Reform, in addition to reducing inequality in ownership, control,
use, and utilization of land, but will also provide new hope for change and distribution of
socio-economic equality of the community as a whole, improve community welfare,
create new fields of work. work and reduce poverty, create sources of prosperity, increase
food security and sovereignty, handle agrarian disputes and conflicts. Since Presidential
Regulation Number 86 of 2018 concerning Agrarian Reform was ratified on September
24 2018, this regulation has become the legal umbrella and main basis for the
implementation of Agrarian Reform in Indonesia. According to Usep Setiawan, Member
of the Expert Assembly of the Agrarian Reform Consortium, Presidential Regulation
Number 86 of 2018 is a reference for the government in carrying out land redistribution,
land legalization, and community economic empowerment.
2. Concept and Implementation
Agrarian Reform in Indonesia emphasizes the concept of land redistribution by
distributing land controlled by the state, maximum excess land area, absentee land , and
other state lands that have been designated as land objects for Agrarian Reform to
farmers. However, in general, there are 3 main things in Agrarian Reform, namely asset
management, access arrangement, and land dispute resolution. This is in line with the
National Strategy for the Implementation of Agrarian Reform 2015-2019 which includes:
(1) strengthening the regulatory framework and resolving agrarian conflicts; (2)
structuring the control and ownership of land objects for Agrarian Reform (TORA); (3)
legal certainty and legalization of rights to TORA; and (4) community empowerment
using TORA.
The concept of agrarian reform or Agrarian Reform includes a continuous process
related to the realignment of control, ownership, use, utilization of agrarian resources,
which is carried out in the context of achieving legal certainty and protection and justice,
through asset management and access arrangement for the prosperity of all Indonesian
people (Lu et al., 2015). Development must be based on a sense of justice and equity.
Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 defines Agrarian Reform as a
reorganization of the structure of control, ownership, use, and utilization of land that is
more equitable through asset management and structuring access for people's prosperity.
Asset management is the restructuring of control, ownership, use and utilization of land in
order to create justice in the field of land tenure and ownership, which is carried out
through redistribution of agricultural and non-agricultural land and distribution of
benefits, while asset legalization is carried out through land certificates. Regarding land
certification, since the enactment of Agrarian Reform in the National Medium-Term
Development Plan (RPJMN), the Government has been aggressively implementing land
certification throughout Indonesia through the Complete Systematic Land Registration
(PTSL) program with the target that all land parcels in Indonesia have certificates. In
2017 as many as 5 million certificates have been issued, in 2018 the target is 7 million
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1.430 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
certificates, and 2019 as many as 9 million certificates, and by 2025 it is targeted that all
land owners in Indonesia have certificates.
Agrarian Reform through structuring access as a supporting activity for asset
management, namely providing access opportunities through the provision of capital and
marketing (Rineksi, 2022), mentoring, and providing agricultural technology to subjects
of agrarian reform to improve welfare based on land use. This activity involves cross-
sectoral between two or more ministries/agencies and local governments (Simangunsong,
2014).
In contrast to asset management which has been partially implemented by the
government through land certificates, dispute resolution and agrarian conflicts as the root
cause of national agrarian problems (Ginting, 2020), there is less space for regulation in
Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018, it appears that conflict resolution is not a top
priority in Agrarian Reform. Presidential Regulation Number 86 of 2018 specifically
regulates land settlement in Chapter IV concerning the Handling of Agrarian Disputes
and Conflicts by establishing a tiered Agrarian Reform Task Force. However, this
provision only regulates the parties involved in the resolution of disputes or conflicts and
then delegates further arrangements to a Ministerial Regulation. This means that
regulations for handling agrarian disputes and conflicts still have to wait for the
establishment of a Ministerial Regulation (Sparrow, 2011). The large number of agrarian
conflict disputes and the complexity of the problems in current disputes and conflicts
require serious attention from the government to resolve them immediately (Whitehead &
Tsikata, 2003). In addition to institutions for handling agrarian disputes, it also needs to
be supported by strong regulations so that in its implementation it does not cause conflicts
with other laws and regulations and the resulting dispute handling has legal certainty for
every party involved in it (Ramadhani, 2021). Thus, a strong legal basis is also important
in handling disputes. In this case, what needs to be considered is the content and binding
power of this Government Regulation, namely in regulating the handling of disputes and
conflicts (Noor, 2021).
Objects of access arrangement: (1) Empowerment of community lands
originating from former Land Use Rights, Abandoned Land and Release of Forest Areas
designated as Land Objects for Agrarian Reform. (2) Empowerment of community land
for land that has been designated as a transmigration location. (3) Empowerment of
community land that has been determined as the location for Complete Systematic Land
Registration. (4) Empowerment of community land and business actors, which have been
designated as cross-sectoral asset legalization activities. (5) Empowerment of land
already owned by the community or legal entity which is determined to be the object of
the Agrarian Reform Object Land.
The form of Agrarian Reform consists of land redistribution, asset legalization,
and social forestry (Lesttari, Yunani, & Hidayat, 2022). The stipulation of land for the
object of agrarian reform includes “Land ex-Hak Guna Usaha, Right to Build or Right to
Use; land subject to conversion provisions; land voluntarily surrendered by the owner;
land rights whose holders violate the provisions of laws and regulations; land reform
object ; land of the former object of land reform ; raised ground; former mining area land;
land granted by the government; land of exchange from and by the government; land
purchased by the government; land released from conversion production forest area; land
of former forest area that was once released”.
The implementation of Agrarian Reform according to the Government's promise
in 2019 will carry out agrarian reform covering an area of 9 million ha of land to be
distributed to farmers (Nurrochmat, Boer, Ardiansyah, Immanuel, & Purwawangsa,
2020). Agrarian reform consists of two schemes: 4.5 million ha of 'asset legalization', and
Listyowati Sumanto
Agrarian Reform in Historical Perspective, Concept and Implementation 1.431
4.5 million ha of 'land redistribution'. Agricultural development requires land for the
extensification of staple food crops. In order to be self-sufficient in food, 14.98 million ha
of paddy fields are needed for rice, 6.21 million ha for corn, 2.27 million ha for soybeans,
and 12.28 million ha for sugarcane.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry targets that within a period of 5 years
(2015-2019) it can print an area of 1 million ha of new rice fields. At that time there was
a forest that had the potential to become agricultural land covering an area of 34.7 million
ha, consisting of a land area of 7.5 million ha for Other Use Areas, and 6.8 million ha of
Conversion Production Forest, and the remaining 20.5 million ha in the Forest area.
Production; while for rice fields, there is only 8.1 million ha of raw paddy land, but there
is 8.3 million ha of potential for development. For dry land, the potential area is 22.4
million ha, consisting of 7.1 million ha of seasonally dry land and 15.3 million ha of
annual dry land. In addition, there are 21.5 million ha of peat soil and 33.5 million ha of
swamp land.
For the implementation of the redistribution program, land comes from “land
used for Cultivation Rights, abandoned land, state land, forest area release, production
forest for conversion.” These lands are redistributed to smallholders (farmers who own or
rent agricultural land less than 0.5 ha), farm laborers, fishermen, youth, women,
indigenous peoples. Release 4.1 million ha of forest area is allocated 20% of plantation
companies from forest area release, and in unproductive forest area of 2.1 million ha from
conversion production forest. Apart from land that is the object of agrarian reform, the
government has issued a Social Forestry program, in 2019 a target of 4.3 million ha of
land for farmer groups, cooperatives, farmer groups associations.
Based on these data, it shows that the government has made efforts to reserve
sufficient land for agriculture, which means that apart from an approach to increasing
productivity (intensification), a land expansion approach (extensification) is also carried
out as a solution to produce sufficient food.
Table 1. Targets Based on RPJM 2015 – 2019 and 2020 – 2024
Land of Agrarian Reform Object
Land redistribution 4.5 Million Ha
Transmigration
Land:
Transmigration
Land Ownership
Certificate.
Target: 0.6
million Hectare
Complete
Systematic Land
Registration:
Community land
certificate
systematically.
Target 3.9 million
Ha
Ex-HGU, Abandoned
Land, Other State
Land:
Redistribution of State
Land from the Right to
Cultivate the expiry
period is not extended,
abandoned land and
other state lands.
Target 0.4 million Ha
Forest Area Release:
Release of Forest
Areas for Land for
Agrarian Reform
Objects (TORA)
Target 4.1 million
Ha.
It has become
another use area
(APL) of 1,569,154
Ha
Achievements:
168,819 plots
covering an area
of 113,109 ha.
(18.85%)
Achievements:
24,287,348 Fields
covering an area
of 6.88 million Ha
(176.41%)
Achievements:
1,599,611 fields,
area of 1,045,646 ha.
(261.41%)
Achievements:
544,541 fields
an area of 264,845
Ha (6.45%)
TOTAL Land Redistribution of 1,310,491 Ha
(29.12%)
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Volume 2 Number 7, July 2022
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The success of the Land for Object of Agrarian Reform (TORA) program by
means of 'redistribution' of land can bring a very positive macro impact, because the
availability of new land is very supportive of achieving the national food self-sufficiency
target. Meanwhile, the granting of certificates of land rights ('legalization of assets')
brings good micro effects for farming families, because they can be used as capital in
developing farming and agribusiness.
After the issuance of Law no. 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation in conjunction
with Government Regulation Number 64 of 2021 concerning Land Banks, it is stipulated
that at least 30% of State Land controlled by the Land Bank is intended for Agrarian
Reform activities. Strengthening the concept of Management Rights allows the
development of 'benefit distribution' activities other than land redistribution (Hull,
Babalola, & Whittal, 2019).
The expansion of the Agrarian Reform object includes abandoned land and
abandoned areas in accordance with Government Regulation Number 20 of 2021
concerning Control of Land and Abandoned Areas in conjunction with Government
Regulation Number 43 of 2021 concerning Settlement of Mismatches Between Spatial
Planning, Forest Areas, Permits, and/or Land Rights. Furthermore, in Government
Regulation Number 18 of 2021 concerning Management Rights, Land Rights, Flat Units
and Land Registration, it is determined that, "On land with Management Rights,
cooperation for land use can be carried out with other parties by granting land rights
based on agreements", so that the concept of 'benefit distribution' can be developed, i.e.
permanent land ownership, but the benefits are shared with other parties.
CONCLUSION
The success of agrarian reform will be realized if the government has a strong
commitment, accurate and complete information and data are available, gains support
from the legislature, gets participation from all relevant parties, programs are carefully
prepared, and implemented gradually and consistently.
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