Member of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Muhammad Khozin, proposed a temporary halt or moratorium on the expansion of the protected rice field (LSD) policy because it still leaves mapping issues and has the potential to hamper public services and development in the regions.
Khozin said the expansion of LSD needs to be thoroughly evaluated considering that the previous government already had food land protection instruments through Law Number 41 of 2009 concerning the Protection of Sustainable Food Agricultural Land, including the Sustainable Food Agricultural Land (LP2B) and Sustainable Food Agricultural Area (KP2B) schemes.
"The LSD is actually no longer necessary. We must not let transitional policies create new problems in the regions," Khozin said in a statement.
In a joint meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of ATR/BPN, Apdesi, Apkasi, and Apeksi at the Parliament Complex, , Khozin said the implementation of the LSD policy in a number of regions still faces legal and technical issues due to the low accuracy of land mapping.
"There are Islamic boarding schools, community health centers, government offices, and even community housing projects that are affected by the LSD designation and cannot be developed. The mapping is inaccurate," he said.
Khozin criticized the LSD designation system, which he deemed too centralized and minimally involved local governments in the field verification process. As a result, several public service projects and community needs were impacted by the designation of protected rice fields.
