Extensive Planning of the Sea Barrier Crime
Monday, February 17, 2025
The police and prosecutors have yet to target the officials who issued building use permits and maritime ownership rights in Tangerang. A planned crime.
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THE investigation into alleged criminal violations relating to the demarcation of the sea in Tangerang Regency, Banten, should not only focus on lower-ranking officials such as village heads and officials. The building of the barrier and the issuing of the right to build (HGB) certificates as well as ownership certificates (HM) for the land concerned is a planned crime that could only have been carried out by a large consortium of powers.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department are currently investigating alleged irregularities in the issuing of a permit to build a 30-kilometer sea barrier intersecting the Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) development area. On the coastline facing the sea barrier, the Agung Sedayu Group—owned by tycoon Sugianto Kusuma, alias Aguan—is building Tropical Coastland PIK 2, which the Joko Widodo administration designated a national strategic project in March 2024.
But neither of the law enforcement agencies are targeting these big names, such as the businesspeople or the officials who issued the permits, despite their involvement in the construction being clear as day. The police, for example, have only taken action against Arsin, the Village Head of Kohod, Tengerang, who allegedly issued a bogus permit. And the AGO says its investigation has ground to a halt because village officials are refusing to hand over documentation.
Arsin’s confession is a good starting point, but the investigation must not solely focus on him, especially since the National Land Agency has discovered that 263 HGB certificates have been issued for the area. The police and the AGO should continue their investigation based on the issuing of these HGB and freehold certificates.
Article 38 of Law No. 5/1960 on the Basic Regulations of Agrarian Principles states that HGBs for state land are issued based on a ministerial decision to grant the right. Furthermore, Government Regulation No. 18/202 on the Right to Manage, Land Rights, Low-Cost Apartment Units, and Land Registration clearly states that rights to land in maritime areas are issued by the ministry responsible for maritime and fisheries affairs.
As well as irregularities in the granting of HGBs and ownership rights, this magazine also found another violation, namely the inclusion of the sea barrier area as a housing zone in the use of marine space in the regional spatial planning plan. However, the entire region should be a public space in the interests of fishermen and the public. This reinforces the impression that the sea barrier was planned for a reclamation project, similar to a number of islands in the waters off Jakarta.
From all these irregularities, police and AGO investigators should start going after the regional heads who made recommendations, the echelon I officials who processed the permits, and the ministers who gave permission. Regarding the issuing of the HGBs and the freehold rights, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency must take responsibility. Meanwhile, for the issuing of permits for maritime areas, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister must be questioned.
President Prabowo Subianto has explicitly asked for the irregularities with the sea barrier to be thoroughly investigated. The police and the AGO cannot refuse to carry out this order. Therefore, the expose of this planned crime that has damaged the environment and deprived coastal people of their rights must go beyond simply making scapegoats out of low-ranking officials.
