Meeting with religious institutions in East Kalimantan, Nusron discusses land certification for houses of worship

Jakarta – Minister of Agricultural Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Nusron Wahid met with Islamic community organizations and religious institutions in East Kalimantan. This meeting discussed the acceleration of the certification of waqf land and places of worship, as well as finding solutions regarding legal certainty on land for mosques and prayer rooms in East Kalimantan. “I deliberately gathered all you ladies and gentlemen to talk heart to heart about the issue of certification of mosques and places of worship,” Nusron said in his statement, Friday (24/10/2025). He conveyed this during a meeting at the BPN regional office (Kanwil) for East Kalimantan province. Nusron stressed that land certification was carried out as an effort to avoid legal problems arising in the future. Scroll to continue content “Don’t let mosques, places of worship that are God’s houses, face problems in the future,” Nusron stressed. He emphasized that currently many waqf land problems arise when land values ​​increase along with economic development and development. This has happened in a number of regions, especially on the island of Java, in relation to strategic infrastructure projects. Nusron also admitted that he checked national data and found a low number of waqf land certified. This condition is also seen in East Kalimantan, where certified waqf land is still below national standards. “For new mosques, it is about 21%, while prayer rooms are only about 10%. Of the total 2,915 areas, only 291 are certified,” he said. Therefore, Nusron invites all Islamic community organizations and related institutions to strengthen synergy to accelerate services. It includes several elements that play a central role, such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI), Indonesian Waqf Council (BWI) and Muhammadiyah. Nusron aims to complete the certification of waqf land and places of worship in East Kalimantan within the next two years. He also emphasized that the issue of mosque certification should not continue to drag on. At this meeting, Nusron also highlighted the large number of waqf lands that do not yet have a Waqf Pawn Deed (AIW), which must be issued by the Ministry of Religion through the KUA. This problem often becomes an obstacle in the certification process. “Almost everyone who comes to this office has a waqf problem because they don’t have an AIW, even though the mosque is already built. This happens a lot,” he said. For this reason, Nusron also asked all parties to strengthen coordination and follow up on existing data immediately so that people can worship in peace without worrying about land disputes in the future. “So I need our commitment together, let’s overcome this together,” he concluded. (anl/ega)