Competition over access to land is a source of conflict in many parts in Indonesia. Conflict over the control of land is related to the land that the government grabbed from individuals and communities during the New Order regime and granted to corporations or private properties. Many areas that the government agencies classified as forest are actually village home sites. This leads to a violent confrontation with the official authorities.

Although the community land rights are recognized by law, they are not often granted. Claiming to the community land rights have less chance where influential private actors are involved. It can be concluded that when the land falls to the state, for example, due to being destroyed by fires, the more powerful corporations always get the first rights to it instead of the communities; even though, the citizens claim that as a traditional community, they are entitled to land. The accessibility to agricultural land has been a problem for many Indonesian farmers for a long time.