Land policies in Indonesia

Indonesia's emergence from a colonized archipelago to a unified sovereign nation state has changed the agrarian structure. As primarily an agrarian society with approximately 60 percent of its population working in or living from agriculture, governments are bound to manage natural resources such as land, water and the riches they contain as best as they could to realize public welfare. However, the presidents who governed the country for the past 50 years have had diverse opinions on their use, exploitation and management. This paper describes various agrarian policies, including their respective implications and impacts on agricultural and rural developments; and details the resulting land fragmentation, poverty and land hunger, among other impacts. Institutions at national, regional and local levels will also be discussed as they have been instrumental in policy implementation.