Khaerudin, Nasru Alam Aziz, Jakarta – The disparity and gap between those who are rich and poor in Indonesia is clearly illustrated by data on the control of national productive assets.

Only 2 percent of the Indonesian population controls 56 percent of the country’s productive national assets. Of this 56 percent, eighty-seven percent is in the form of land.

“According to the National Land Agency, around 56 percent of the country’s national assets are controlled by just 2 percent of the Indonesian population. As much as 87 percent of this 56 percent of national assets is in the form of land”, said House of Representatives Commission II member and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator Budiman Sudjatmiko when speaking with Kompas on the evening of Wednesday April 25.

According to Sudjatmiko, there are three basic problems facing Indonesia with regard to the disparity and injustice in the control of the country’s national assets, particularly in the agrarian sector.

The first is economic policies, which since the Dutch colonial period until now have tended to side with big capital. Second, overlapping legislation and violations of the 1945 Constitution and the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law. Third, the sectoral egos of the ministries and institutions concerned with agrarian affairs and natural resources.

These three problems, according to Sudjatmiko, are there main reason for the protracted agrarian conflicts in Indonesia. “Agrarian conflicts will never be resolved and will even tend to become bigger because the government is unwilling to address these three big problems”, he said.

[Konflik Agraria: Dua Percent Penduduk Indonesia Kuasai 56 Percent Aset Nasional – Kompas.com. Kamis, 26 April 2012. Translated by James Balowski.]