Kalimantan Native Laments New Capital Project Over Alleged Land Conflict

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dahlia Yati, a Paser Balik tribe native, in a webinar on Tuesday said she was shocked after witnessing the land lot she owns in East Kalimantan - the location of Indonesia’s new capital city - had been claimed for the national project. 

She recalled this came after the local government issued a circular regarding land acquisition for the ambitious project. Yati said currently a sign had been installed along with a field border pillar over the plot of land she claimed had been used by her and local residents for agriculture in the past years. 

“Local traditional communities are demanding explanations about customary land use, which should not be affected by the seemingly forced construction of the new capital. The installation of a sign is an act of arbitrary acquisition. No one had met us or talked about this with us,” said Yati in a webinar titled the Bersihkan Indonesia (clean up Indonesia) on March 15. 

Yati explained that her field is roughly 10 kilometers away from the new capital city’s ground zero, which is where President Joko Widodo and his entourage spent the night camping and held a ritual. She claimed the field lot under her family’s name measures up to four hectares.

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