Ulrich Löffler, (1996):
Land Tenure Developments in Indonesia

9. Potential fields for development cooperation

In this part, some starting-points for development cooperation in the area of land tenure will be discussed. It should not be forgotten that land tenure and its changes must be seen not in isolation, but rather in a socio-cultural, political and economic context.

9.1 Policy Dialogue

The policy dialogue could contribute to the following:

The awareness of the existing problems and the need to change land policy

Existing information gaps need to be closed and the flow of information needs to be improved. Centrally organized bureaucracies are too little aware of local structures and institutions for resource allocation and for the resolving of land disputes. The institutional communication and the institutional cooperation between the heterogeneous local institutions and the centralized state are so far insufficient. The flow of information from the local basis to the central powers has to be improved and the closer cooperation between local level institutions and the national level has to be strengthened.

Encouraging discussions on the future land tenure developments

The dialogue should be carried out with as many decision makers in the field of land tenure as possible. For this discussion process, the potential decision makers and the position they take up must be known at the national, regional and local level. To enable this, a long-term network of relationships must be built up and fostered.

The demonstration of various policy options

Various policy options with regard to land tenure developments ought to be demonstrated. Amongst these are:

• State Land Registry versus less formal approaches
• Basic laws with only a few and clear principles versus very detailed laws and regulations.

How do other countries in the region solve similar land tenure problems? Previous positive project experience gained in Indonesia or in other (Asian) countries also ought to be made available to the decision makers involved.

Encouragement of dialogue between donors

A better communication and coordination among the donors (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc.) is not only important for reaching a "more unanimous" vision of land policy in Indonesia, it is also important for avoiding parallel developments and clashes

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The promotion of inter-institutional dialogue and close cooperation between the relevant departments at the national, regional and local level.

The areas of competency of the various departments involved are often unclear and lead to conflict potential.

The dialogue between the departments involved for exchanging information and improving cooperation should be improved. One example is the "Consultative Group on Indonesian Forestry" (CGIF) in existence since 1993 which brings international donors (the GTZ amongst them) together with Government Departments. One working group of the CGIF deals with questions about social forestry and land tenure. The inter-institutional dialogue of a "Consultative Group on Land Tenure Development" (BPN, MoF, international donors) should be promoted.

Encouraging decentralization

The interests of the actors involved towards a stronger decentralization are diverse. The redistribution of State power to the various regional administrative bodies also means a redistribution of resources. A decentralization of state responsibility is a prerequisite for locally efficient land tenure institutions.