Unregistered land: SKT, girik and segel

A lot of land in Kalimantan is held on letters, not certificates. The letter is usually a statement from a village head, a ward head (lurah) or a sub-district head (camat) that a person controls a plot. It can be the start of a title. It isn’t one.

Since 2 February 2026 the older kinds of letter carry even less weight than before. The land behind them can still be registered, but the buyer has to treat a letter as a lead to check, never as proof.

What the letters are

The common ones are the land statement letter (surat keterangan tanah, SKT), the compensation letter (surat keterangan ganti rugi, SKGR), which records a payment to the previous holder, and the segel, a term used in East Kalimantan for a letter of sale or claim. Girik and similar village records began as proof of paying land tax, not as titles.

Government Regulation 18 of 2021 is blunt about them. Under Article 97, an SKT, an SKGR, a village letter or any similar letter from a village head, lurah or camat can only be used as an indication (petunjuk) when the land is registered. It doesn’t prove a right.

Letters are common in Kalimantan because much land was opened from state land or forest by clearing and farming it, and because registration has been slow to reach rural areas. In October 2023 the land ministry’s East Kalimantan office said about 80% of parcels in East and North Kalimantan were registered, and it set 2025 as the target for the rest. Outside the main towns, a buyer will meet letters often.

The deadline of 2 February 2026

Article 96 of the same regulation gave individuals five years to register written evidence of former customary (adat) ownership. The regulation took effect on 2 February 2021, so the period ended on 2 February 2026. Since then that evidence no longer counts as proof of a land right. It’s only an indication in the registration process.

The regulation’s elucidation says the deadline doesn’t change the status of the land, and the ministry has said such land can still be certified. Nobody lost a plot on that date. What changed is the evidence. A claim now rests more on physical possession, and Government Regulation 24 of 1997 on land registration sets the test: 20 years or more of possession by the applicant and predecessors, in good faith and in the open, backed by trustworthy witnesses, and not disputed by the customary community, the village or anyone else before or during the public announcement.

Systematic registration (PTSL)

The government’s complete systematic land registration programme (Pendaftaran Tanah Sistematis Lengkap, PTSL) measures and registers every parcel in a village in one round. Article 87 of the 2021 regulation requires owners to take part, and an owner who doesn’t has to register the land individually.

Both routes end with a public announcement of the measured plot and the claimed owner: 14 calendar days in systematic registration and 30 in individual registration. That’s when neighbours, heirs and earlier buyers object. For a buyer it’s a useful test, because a plot that gets through its announcement without objection carries less hidden risk than one that has never been exposed.

Where letter deals go wrong

• Two letters exist for the same land, issued by different village heads over the years, or one letter is used to sell the plot twice. No central register records letters, so you can’t search for an earlier sale.
• The letter covers land inside a designated forest area, an oil palm concession, a mining licence or a customary claim. The land office won’t certify forest-area land until it’s released, as explained in forest area status.
• Boundaries are described by neighbours’ names, trees and streams, not coordinates, so the area on paper and on the ground differ.
• The person selling isn’t the person in control of the land, or the heirs disagree about the sale.
• A new certificate can still be challenged. Under Article 32 of the 1997 regulation, a claimant who objects in writing or sues within five years of issue can still contest it. After five years, an owner who acquired it in good faith and occupies the land is protected.

Buying letter-held land

Treat the purchase as a registration project with a sale at the end. Collect every letter in the chain, back to the first opening of the land, and confirm each signature with the village and sub-district offices that issued it. Walk the boundaries with the neighbours and the village head, and ask who farms or uses the land today. Check forest status and the spatial plan before you agree a price, and read customary land and community consent if there’s any customary claim nearby.

Then make the deal conditional. Pay a small part on signing, and the balance only when a certificate has been issued and a deed of sale is signed before a land deed official (PPAT). Write down the deadline for registration and the refund if it fails. Once the certificate exists, run the checks in how to check a land certificate as you would for any titled plot.