PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA — The National Committee for Agrarian Reform (KNPA) has raised concerns over the growing escalation of agrarian conflicts during the first year of the Prabowo-Gibran administration. KNPA records show that in just the first three months, there were 63 reported conflicts, affecting 66,082 hectares of land and involving more than 10,000 families.
KNPA emphasized that these conflicts highlight deep-rooted structural inequalities in land ownership. Data from the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) between 2015 and 2024 revealed at least 2,841 people were criminalized, 1,054 subjected to violence, 88 shot, and 79 killed in land disputes. Meanwhile, WALHI documented 1,131 cases of violence and criminalization against environmental defenders over the past decade.
“The inequality is glaring—just 1 percent of society controls 68 percent of land and agrarian resources in Indonesia. This is the root cause of widespread impoverishment,” KNPA stated in its official release received by Palmoilmagazine.com on Wednesday (Sept 10, 2025).
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KNPA also criticized government agrarian-based development policies, which they argue favor corporate interests through national strategic projects, the Omnibus Law on Job Creation, and food estate programs. Such policies, according to KNPA, legitimize the dispossession of land from farmers, Indigenous peoples, fisherfolk, and women.
As a solution, KNPA urged the government to immediately implement genuine agrarian reform by ensuring fair land distribution, ending the criminalization of communities defending their rights, and revoking policies that strip citizens of their living space. “Agrarian justice is the key to resolving the deepening social and political crisis,” KNPA stressed. (P2)
