InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA — The National Committee for Agrarian Reform (KNPA) has highlighted the increasing escalation of agrarian conflicts in the first year of the Prabowo-Gibran administration. KNPA records show that in the first three months alone, there were 63 conflict cases affecting an area of 66,082 hectares and involving over 10,000 families.

KNPA views these conflicts as a reflection of structural inequality in land control. Data from the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA) from 2015–2024 records at least 2,841 people have been criminalized, 1,054 were victims of violence, 88 were shot, and 79 died due to agrarian conflicts. Meanwhile, WALHI notes 1,131 cases of violence and criminalization against environmental activists in the last decade.

"The inequality is increasingly evident, where 1% of society controls 68% of the land and agrarian resources in Indonesia. This is the root of the impoverishment of the people," KNPA stated in its official release, received by InfoSAWIT on Wednesday (9/10/2025).

KNPA also criticized agrarian-based development policies that are seen as benefiting capital owners through national strategic projects, the Job Creation Law, and the food estate scheme. These policies are considered to legitimize the seizure of people's land, including farmers, indigenous communities, fishermen, and women.

As a way forward, KNPA is urging the government to immediately implement genuine agrarian reform by fairly distributing land, stopping the criminalization of people fighting for their rights, and revoking policies deemed to seize the people's living spaces. "Agrarian justice is the key to ending the increasingly acute social and political crisis," KNPA stressed. (T2)