Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Land ownership and reconstruction
Jax
When the International Organisation for Migration recently wanted to build a clinic in Nusa, the village in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province whose reconstruction the Guardian is monitoring, it thought it had found an ideal location on the approach lane from the main road.
Letters were obtained from the village head, the sub-district chief, the police and every other relevant organisation that the selected plot on the edge of the village was available.
But, shortly after the contractor started laying the foundations, a man claiming to be the owner of the land turned up and insisted the work be stopped since he had no desire to have a clinic on his land.His claim proved genuine and the workers stopped construction, leaving behind about a dozen neatly aligned concrete piles.
It is not clear who is to blame for this fiasco as everyone is accusing everyone else. But it highlights one of the greatest issues emerging in Aceh, namely who owns what land and how can they prove it.
Most experts agree that land ownership, and prior to that individuals' official identities, have to be determined before any reconstruction can proceed.
"If the process of reconstruction proceeds without a clear picture of land ownership then the potential for conflict is significant," said Dan Fitzpatrick, an advisor to the United Nations on the issue. "For as soon as you start presenting economic opportunities to people you start creating conflicts unless everything is certain in advance."
In Nusa, where only 23 people out of 149 families died and only a third of the houses were destroyed, there have been no disputes. "Everyone knows whose land is whose and in every case where there is an empty plot someone from the family is still alive," said Abdul Kadir, who was the village secretary until last month.
Amazingly, the situation is often the same in areas where the death toll and devastation level were much higher. In Mulia, a neighbourhood of Kuta Alam sub-district in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, only 400 out of the approximately 4,000 residents survived and virtually no houses are still standing. But most of the few survivors, in consultation with their neighbours have roped off the land they believe to be theirs.
"Everyone agrees with what we have done," said Muzakir Tulod, who lost his wife, two of three children and his house. "The sub-district chief has also approved. Now we just need money and materials to rebuild."
Complicating matters is that only a tiny proportion of the population ever had title deeds to their properties and many of those lost them in the tsunami.
Officials in Meulaboh, a town 150 miles south of Banda Aceh, have found hundreds of badly damaged title deeds and, with help from the UN and the National Archives in Jakarta, are restoring them in a painstaking process that is likely to take months.
In most other areas, communities are starting from scratch, partly to ensure they can receive international assistance, because many aid agencies are refusing to disburse funds unless they are confident of who owns what land.
One of the more thorough schemes is being run by Indonesian Red Cross staff with help from their British counterparts. It has two parallel tracks, one whereby people recover their official identities and a second where communities determine who owns what land.
Families have to first prove who is still alive and complete a form detailing this. Then they have to obtain a letter from the village head confirming that these people are who they claim to be and that they do live in the village. This letter, complete with photos, is then taken to the police and military (Aceh is still technically under a state of emergency due to the 29-year-long separatist conflict) and identity cards are issued.
Running simultaneously to this are village gatherings where everyone is consulted to determine who owns what land. This is then recorded and submitted to the Red Cross.
"Only once that's done will we be able to give the resources to communities to rebuild their houses," said Bill Marsden, a British Red Cross livelihoods adviser. "We have to know who lived in [each] village and where on December 25th in order to avoid land ownership issues."
Considering the Red Cross has a reconstruction budget of tens of millions of pounds, it is not surprising that the 300 families involved in the pilot project are embracing it enthusiastically. Within a few weeks the scheme is expected to be expanded to help 12,000 families, Mr Marsden said.
A trickier issue is where the coastline has disappeared entirely, Mr Fitzpatrick said. "What will probably happen in these situations is that communities will work something out," he said. "Religious and other leaders will hopefully be able to give other land to people who have lost everything." (Link)
