The Tsunami Two Years On: Land Rights in Aceh

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Introduction

Aceh, the northern-most province of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, suffered terribly in the tsunami of December 2004. The water washed over 800km of coastline, killing 169,000 people and leaving 600,000 homeless. In several areas, no buildings, roads, or trees were left standing. Large areas of land were permanently lost. Sumatra was then hit by an earthquake on 28 March 2005, killing almost another 1,000 people on Nias island.

After the disaster the world responded generously and the aim of aid agencies working there was to make life in coastal Aceh eventually better for all, regardless of wealth or gender. In a region afflicted by poverty and conflict this represented an unprecedented opportunity.

 

Case study 1: Mon Ikeun A concrete slab is all that’s left of Ruslaidi’s house in the village of Mon Ikeun. The tsunami took his wife, five-year-old son, parents, and siblings, and also totally destroyed his home. Now the 38-year-old joiner lives with his 12-year-old son in a nearby barracks. His two-bedroom house was rented from a neighbour who died in the tsunami. The house hasn’t been rebuilt because the ownership has passed to a distant relative who lives in another village.‘He never comes here’ said Ruslaidi.’No one has any idea what he’s going to do with the land. He’s not interested in it.’ Whilst the weeds grow through Ruslaidi’s old house, others have been busy. A villager who refused to give his name said: ‘Some families have three houses when other families are still waiting for permanent homes. People have come back from Jakarta, got a house and left again. Contractors from Medan have left homes half-finished.’ ‘ This village is full of injustice and anger.’

Up to November 2006, 48,000 houses had been built in the province, but there is still much to do to reach the target of 128,000 houses. Two years on from the tsunami, rebuilding homes and re-housing the landless are two of the most important tasks facing Aceh. Land-rights issues – the question of who owns what land – must be solved if Acehnese society is to be rebuilt on a secure footing. Without clear land rights, people who are rebuilding run the risk that a third party could come forward and claim rightful ownership of a plot of land.

Six years after the earthquake which hit the Japanese city of Kobe in 1995 some people were still living in temporary accommodation because property claims had not been agreed.

But the problems Aceh faces in re-establishing land rights are of a different order. Documents were destroyed, if indeed they ever existed. Fifteen tonnes of documents have been shipped to Jakarta to be restored. Many land holdings along the coast were marked out by trees and paths, but after the wave these boundary markers were gone. In other areas land simply sank into the sea or was washed away. Traditional community-based institutions have been put under severe strain. Pre-tsunami renters and squatters are still stuck in barracks – long, single-storey buildings where many families live packed closely together. The barracks-dwellers face unsanitary conditions and an uncertain future.

The task of rebuilding Aceh is the largest reconstruction project in the developing world. This paper looks at the historical background to land rights in Aceh and the effect of the tsunami and proposes how a more inclusive form of development can be followed.

Date of original publication: December 2006