Frithjof Kuhnen (1996):
Synthesis of Current State of and Trends in Land Tenure and Land Policy in Asia

2.4.1 Land Rights are Relatively Stable

In most of Asia, land rights are relatively stable (an important difference in comparison with Africa). This is due to the widespread existence of a land record system (cadaster), to quite an extent a legacy of British colonial administration, sometimes even much older. Indonesia and the Philippines are exceptions. There, the establishment of a cadaster has only recently been implemented and progressed to a limited extent only, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The cadaster is not always up to date: in order to avoid paying fees, peasants do not register changes. But even in this case, it is usually possible to trace back the legal situation. The influence exercised by landlords, which sometimes played a role in former times, diminished with land reforms, reduction in the scale of land ownership and the general improvement of the law-and-order system. The latter is especially relevant as far as land rights are concerned. The political climate is against landlords and, therefore, they avoid illegal actions in this field. Nowadays, it is not the existence and security of land rights which are the peasants' major concern but their restricted access and the increasing reduction in the scale of individuals' share in land.

Water rights constitute a different matter. While each landowner's share is usually clearly fixed, there are many cases of water theft, of the time allotted for irrigation being exceeded to the disadvantage of the next user, and excessive use of water at the upper end of the canal system so that there is little or no more water downstream. This is difficult to control and, in this case, economic power often plays a role: poor smallholders are afraid to carry their point through in the legal system. The weakness or non-existence of irrigation associations increases the changes for illegal action by some parties.