Rancapinang Residents Sue Over Land Seizure for Military Battalion

Dozens of residents from Rancapinang village, Cimanggu District, Pandeglang Regency, Banten, have initiated a legal battle over their land. The residents have filed a lawsuit against the Pandeglang Regency Land Office and the Ministry of Defense at the Serang State Administrative Court (PTUN). The core of the dispute is the issuance of a right-to-use certificate (SHP) to the Ministry of Defense for approximately 3,646,390 square meters (about 364 hectares) of land that the villagers claim as their own. This land is now being developed into a military battalion known as BTP (Batalyon Teritorial Pembangunan). During a court hearing on July 7, a witness, identified as Inah, testified emotionally before the panel of judges. She recounted the harrowing experience from early last year when bulldozers from the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) began burying her farmland. "I can't bear to talk about that land, because my garden has been buried. The rice was yellow and almost ready for harvest, but it was buried by bulldozers," she stated. Her farm, which was her sole source of livelihood, was planted with coconuts, melinjo, bananas, and bamboo. As a single mother, Inah is now struggling to finance her son's university education. "I really have no income now. I told my child not to go to college for now. Where will the money come from?" she lamented. Although farming income was never fixed, she said it was enough to cover daily needs and allow for some savings. Currently, to meet her basic needs, she works as a farm laborer, helping neighbors with their rice harvests, earning about two kilograms of rice per day, or sometimes just a plate of rice as compensation. The case highlights the plight of villagers whose livelihoods are directly impacted by land acquisition for national defense projects, raising critical questions about land rights and compensation in Indonesia.