‘Land mafia’ makes its mark in a Sumatran village’s fight against oil palm firm

JAKARTA — In 2020, residents of Suka Mukti village in southern Sumatra paid 10 million rupiah each, about $700, to a government agency to obtain titles to their land — a process that is officially supposed to be free. This year, the same agency declared the certificates illegal because, it says, the land falls inside a concession held by a palm oil company. The fiasco has shone a light on the corruption and opacity that cloud the land-titling process in Indonesia, and the role of a “land mafia” in keeping it that way to serve the interests of big businesses. “According to the regulations, land…

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