InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA — The Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Nusron Wahid, announced that as of 2025, only 57 certificates for tanah ulayat (communal land) have been issued to 18 indigenous communities, covering an area of 987.4 hectares.

This achievement is considered far short of the government's set target. Nusron called for broader support to encourage indigenous communities to register their land for legal protection.

"This is still very far from our expectations. Therefore, we are asking for joint support so that indigenous communities are truly willing to register their land to be certified," he said during a working meeting with Commission II of the House of Representatives, as monitored by InfoSAWIT on Monday (9/8/2025).

The issuance of these certificates is "for all time," serving as a form of legal recognition and protection for tanah ulayat managed by indigenous communities.

Context of National Targets

According to information compiled by InfoSAWIT, the land registration program for tanah ulayat by the BPN is part of the Complete Systematic Land Registration (PTSL) scheme. The Ministry of ATR/BPN's strategic plan targets all land parcels in Indonesia—including indigenous land—to be certified by 2025, with a national target of 126 million land parcels. Currently, over 117 million parcels have been registered, a significant jump from only 46 million in 2017.

Additionally, through the newly launched "Gemapatas 2025" program, ATR/BPN also aims to complete the registration of 14.4 million hectares of uncertified land under the non-forest land-use (APL) scheme.

Specifically regarding tanah ulayat, in West Sumatra, for example, an Antara report noted that only 10 out of 426 indigenous land parcels have been certified—equivalent to 0.02%. The government is now emphasizing the need to maximize public outreach to achieve the 100% tanah ulayat certification target by 2025. (T2)