Indonesia Accelerates Agrarian Reform Bill Deliberations Amidst Civil Society Concerns

Indonesia's parliament (DPR) is rapidly advancing deliberations on the Draft Law on Agrarian Reform (RUURA), a legislative agenda that civil society has championed for 34 years. The plan is to have the bill, a significant achievement for civil society, potentially passed before National Farmers' Day on September 24. However, various civil society organizations have raised concerns regarding the draft RUURA. Muhamad Isnur, Chairperson of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), stated that the deliberation process for RUURA is too hasty and carries the risk of not fully incorporating the aspirations of the public, particularly groups affected by agrarian conflicts. He fears RUURA might suffer the same fate as other laws that underwent rapid legislative processes, such as the revision of the KPK Law, the Constitutional Court Law, the Job Creation Law, and the TNI Law. According to Isnur, a rushed process can lead to substantive issues being overlooked during discussions, only to surface later under pressure from civil society. Since RUURA was included in the national legislative program (prolegnas) on August 27, the drafting process immediately accelerated on September 1, just four days later. Within less than a week, the drafting process was completed on September 7, and RUURA was brought to a plenary meeting on September 8 for adoption as a DPR initiative. Isnur argues that the deliberation of a bill should provide sufficient time for the public to understand the substance of the regulations and submit their suggestions. He also emphasizes that agrarian issues do not solely concern residents in Jakarta. Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman, a lecturer in Constitutional Law at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), commented that the diction "regulation" (pengaturan) in the nomenclature of the bill is highly biased in its meaning and unnecessary. According to him, a law itself is fundamentally a "regulation," making the inclusion of the term redundant. Information Source: Mongabay Indonesia