Farmers and workers hold rally to commemorate National Farmers Day 2024

TIME.CO, Jakarta – The Alliance of the People’s Movement Against Land Grabbing (Geram Tanah) has announced that it will hold a meeting on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

The action is intended to commemorate the 2020 National Farmers’ Day4 and the 64th anniversary of the Fundamental Agrarian Law of 1960. The masses, consisting of 80 farmers’ organizations, trade unions, students and civil society, will organize an action under the theme “Save the Constitution, Defend Democracy and Implement Genuine Agrarian Reform.”

Alliance representative and Secretary General of the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), Dewi Kartika, said the rally will last for two days from September 23 to 24, 2024 in Jakarta. The closing action on September 24, 2024 will be held simultaneously in several regions including Medan, Jambi, Palembang, Bandar Lampung, Semarang, Makassar, Palu, Manado and Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara or NTT. “We are holding this simultaneously to express and remind the government to implement real agrarian reform programs,” Dewi said at a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday, September 22, 2024.

In Jakarta, the Alliance will hold a two-day commemoration action, namely a commemoration action at the headquarters of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on September 23. The aim of this action is to commemorate the crimes of the government that are suspected of corrupt practices. The action also demands that the state institution investigate cases of corruption in the agricultural sector and the land mafia, which have been one of the causes of serious agrarian conflicts due to evictions and land confiscations. “This action will be attended by 1,000 activists from the KPA and the Pasundan Farmers Union (SPP),” Dewi said.

On September 24, an action will be held at the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Land Management/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) and the headquarters of the People’s Representative Council (DPR). Peasant masses and elements of the popular movement will join the action. They claim that the government has failed to implement real agrarian reforms in the past ten years.

According to Dewi, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has turned land reform into a simple land certification without land redistribution. Land certification in the name of land reform is evidence that the Jokowi government is further liberalizing Indonesia’s land market, and placing Indonesian agrarian political sovereignty under the feet of investors and landowners.

Even in KPA’s findings and analysis during the period 2015-2023, Dewi estimated that President Jokowi and the Minister of ATR/BPN were only able to manage abandoned land and former Right to Cultivate (HGU) and Right to Build (HGB) land, covering 77,000 hectares out of the 7.24 million hectares.

Amid this stagnation, President Jokowi and his supporters are increasingly pushing for agricultural liberalization and development programs such as the acceleration of National Strategic Projects (NSPs), food estates, the development of the National Capital Region (IKN), the Land Bank, pardons for deforestation companies, the politicization of mining for mass organizations and food imports. “This situation has led to an increase in agrarian conflicts and land monopolies for a decade,” Dewi said.

Dewi refutes claims that this year’s commemoration of National Farmers’ Day 2024 was politically motivated. She says some parties are deliberately and systematically building the idea that National Farmers’ Day 2024 is being exploited without consulting farmers, including the KPA, which holds street actions every year. “This is a systematic insult to farmers and land reform movements,” Dewi said.

Dewi emphasizes that the rumors that are circulating are not true. For farmers, the commemoration of National Farmers Day 2024, which takes place every September 24, is a noble and holy day for the struggle of farmers in Indonesia.

“This is the time for farmers and land reform movements to remind the government of the country’s political agenda that is yet to be implemented, which is the land reform agenda,” Dewi said.

About 6,000 farmer activists and a combination of grassroots elements from Jakarta, West Java, East Java, Banten and Bali claim to participate in the commemoration of National Farmers Day 2024. The farmer activist masses consist of SPP, Indramayu Farmers’ Union (STI), Majalengka Farmers’ Union (SPM), Cianjur Farmers’ Collective (PPC), Punclut Farmers’ Union, Suryakencana Sukabumi Farmers’ Union (PPSS), AMANAT Bogor Farmers, Banten Farmers’ Movement (P2B), Jember Sekti and Buleleng Bali Farmers’ Union.

Tempo attempted to contact the Deputy Vice President in the Office of the President (KSP), Abetnego Tarigan, for comment on the matter. However, he did not respond to messages from Tempo at the time of writing.

HENDRIK YAPUTRA

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