Vacant Land Policy in Supporting Agrarian Performance in Indonesia

: Land is fundamental for human life. However, in fact, land management in Indonesia still fails to improve the prosperity of people and farmers. A field fact indicates that currently our farmers own only 0.2 ha of land on average. Thus, even though they work hard they still remain poor due to their too small land area and to the lack of capital. In addition, their family members are relatively large in number. On the other side, in Indonesia there are now approximately 7 million hectares vacant lands that are not used or the utilization of which is not according to their proper utility. The aforementioned essential condition led the author to assume that there was something wrong in the implementation of our national agrarian law or land law politic system. Therefore, in the reformation era nowadays, the government should be brave to initiate some breakthrough for accelerating an equal distribution of land ownership and control by agrarian reformation. The objective of the present research was to study and seek the solution of accelerating vacant land control and management, to be utilized for people welfare as well as for increasing agrarian reformation objects. The tentative results of the research showed that: 1) The definition of vacant land (tanah terlantar) was still ambiguous, giving a rise to multiple interpretations and leading to the lack of legal certainty and justice for both land buyers and farmers. 2) The criteria of vacant land still need to be elucidated more clearly by specifying its characteristics and elements. And 3) It needs to immediately prepare an academic draft of the regulation of vacant land control and management.To deal with the above, the government has to take the following measures: 1. Issues a proper, right regulation based on a legislation system in controlling and managing vacant lands, without violating human rights and based on fairness; 2. Maps vacant lands spreading across the state; 3. Utilizes the vacant lands, for them to be eligible as an agrarian reformation object. These have to be done as soon as possible in order to realize people and farmers welfare; and 4. Willingly and capably initiates some breakthroughs in distributing the lands to those farmers who have a right under a proper, right, and just regulation