Legal Literacy - Currently, the complexity of the existence of oil palm plantations is becoming a point of view from the arrangement of forest areas which is manifested through a series of disciplinary raids on areas that are prohibited from being planted with oil palm, especially oil palm plantations owned by the people.
For farmers whose land is in the Other Allocation Area (APL) area, they are relatively safe from the reach of the Forest Area Control Task Force (PKH) because there are no rules being violated. However, oil palm farmers (independent farmers) often ignore the legality of their land. They tend to feel safe and comfortable with the current conditions and only focus on the harvest (TBS transactions). In fact, legality over land is a key component in the adage of sustainability and prosperity (sustainability and prosperity) of oil palm plantations.
Planters only rely on Land Certificates (Surat Keterangan Tanah/SKT) or Compensation Certificates (Surat Keterangan Ganti Rugi/SKGR) along with sceets kaart (sketch/drawing of the plantation) as proof of land ownership. Quite a few also rely solely on ordinary sale and purchase agreements between sellers and buyers without state involvement. In fact, plantations without any documents are also commonly found.
The main obstacle in managing land ownership documents is the cost. As an illustration, in one village in Riau Province, the processing of SKT or SKGR is subject to a tariff of IDR 1-2 million per plot. This amount is not fixed; it depends on local policies. The cost is clearly higher if the processing becomes a Certificate of Ownership (Sertifikat Hak Milik/SHM), which must be done at the Regional Office of the National Land Agency (Badan Pertanahan Nasional/BPN) of the Regency/City with the requirement of a Deed of Sale and Purchase (Akta Jual Beli/AJB) document issued by a land deed official (notary or sub-district head in some locations where there is no notary).
Another factor is the maximum area requirement for ownership of plantation plots/fields to access the government's free land certification program through Complete Systematic Land Registration (Pendaftaran Tanah Sistematis Lengkap/PTSL), which also influences independent farmers to manage their land documents. It is not a rumor that many independent farmers own large areas of land up to tens of hectares in one or several stretches (plots/fields). As a result, the planters concerned must divide the area into several documents, with a sum of money in each document processing!
That rupiah-based complexity often comes up in every conversation with planters regarding the legality of their oil palm plantations.
SHM, SKT, SKGR, Girik, and Leter C
The state guarantees land ownership rights for the Indonesian people through the Certificate of Ownership (SHM), which has legal force in accordance with the Basic Agrarian Law (Undang-Undang Pokok Agraria/UUPA) No. 5 of 1960 and Government Regulation No. 24 of 1997. The authority to issue it lies with the National Land Agency (Badan Pertanahan Nasional/BPN) at the central level to the regency level (Regional Office/Kanwil BPN).
SHM is proof of ownership of land rights and is also strong evidence regarding the physical and juridical data contained therein. However, the validity of SHM as legal proof of ownership only applies in the Other Allocation Area (Area Peruntukkan Lain/APL). In forest areas controlled by the state, the form of licensing is not SHM and is issued by the Ministry of Forestry, not BPN.
At the site level, many farmers' plantations are found to be based only on Land Certificates (Surat Keterangan Tanah/SKT), Compensation Certificates (Surat Keterangan Ganti Rugi/SKGR) and their attachments (sceets kaart or land situation drawings), including Girik, Patok, and Letter C, which are generally found on the island of Java.
Girik and Letter C are old village administration documents that record the history of land control and tax payments, functioning as proof of physical control of land, not legal ownership. This document is the basis for managing land certificates, but starting February 2026 it will no longer be legal proof of ownership and will only be supporting evidence.
SKT (Surat Keterangan Tanah) is a certificate issued by the village head/sub-district head related to physical control of land. At the sub-district level, it is commonly referred to as SKT Camat (Sub-district Head's Land Certificate). Both have the same function, which is to provide information regarding the history and status of control of a plot of land. SKT Camat is usually issued for land located outside the owner's village. However, in practice, planters often process SKT up to the sub-district level with the excuse of strengthening it.
Surat Keterangan Ganti Rugi (SKGR) (Compensation Certificate) is a statement of buying and selling land known to the village head/sub-district head for land that has not been certified. Similar to SKT, the processing of SKGR in practice extends to the sub-district level.
By document definition, Letter C and girik are not the same as SKT (Surat Keterangan Tanah) (Land Certificate), even though they are both initial evidence of customary land ownership. However, based on PP 18/2021, it is no longer an absolute requirement for registration and does not apply as a single piece of ownership evidence.
These three proofs of ownership do have weaknesses, namely registration numbers that are still manual and not archived, making them vulnerable to being lost/replaced. Cases of village heads issuing SKT or SKGR on the same land based on police reports of loss for resale often occur even though the land is being used as collateral or as bank collateral.
The fact that the registration number is not archived, let alone connected to government administration, clearly opens the door for land disputes. Moreover, in land cases, the principle of prior tempore potior jure (the earlier in time, the stronger in right) applies. This means that a plantation based on SKT or SKGR will lose if there is a letter of ownership that is older in issuance and level.
In urban areas, this modus is often used to take away the land rights of others. It is not surprising that on marketplaces, there are types of old year stamps along with other attributes to litigate land.
Another weakness of SKT is that it does not contain information related to the location of the plantation in relation to other areas (coordinates), making it difficult to ensure that the location of the planter's land is clean and clear, in the sense that it is free from dispute problems and has clear boundaries. This is not found in SHM (Sertifikat Hak Milik/Freehold Title Certificate) because the manufacturing process uses digital technology and numbering that is archived in a database making conflicts of ownership or overlaps with other areas less likely.
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