Gibran's Name Surfaces in DPR Meeting on Establishing National Agrarian Reform Agency (BRAN)

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The name "Gibran" suddenly surfaced during a meeting discussing the List of Issues (Daftar Inventarisasi Masalah - DIM) of the Draft Law on Agrarian Reform Regulation between the DPR's Legislative Body (Baleg) and the government on Friday (18/9/2026).

The name Gibran was mentioned by Baleg member Ahmad Irawan while the DPR and government debated whether or not to include the National Agrarian Reform Agency (BRAN) by name in the bill.

"If this is merely a naming issue, this is BRAN. Is it BRAN or Gibran, sir?" Irawan said during the meeting.

Irawan made the remark after explaining that the DPR and government have agreed on the duties, functions, and authorities of the institution that will handle agrarian reform.

According to him, the issue at hand is not simply the agency's name but also its institutional effectiveness since the institution will have to coordinate with ministries that hold authority over land and agrarian matters.

"In my opinion, if it's truly just a naming matter and not something significant related to duties, functions, authorities, and the placement of this institution under the President's responsibility, then I think it's something the leadership can discuss. It's not a major issue that we need to debate at length. We better proceed to other matters," Irawan said.

Fraksi Partai Golkar di DPR RI Golkar Faction DPR Commission II Member Ahmad Irawan

Government reluctant to lock agency's name in law

The debate over the BRAN name began when Deputy Chair of Baleg, Sturman Panjaitan, questioned the provision stating that the determination of agrarian reform objects is made based on decisions from government agencies.

Sturman expressed surprise and confusion as to why BRAN was not explicitly named in the provision.

The Chair of the Working Committee on the Agrarian Reform Regulation Bill, Iman Sukri, explained that the agency's name was not included because its formation would be regulated later by the government through a Presidential Regulation (Perpres).

Sturman then questioned why the DPR must wait for a Perpres to determine an agency created by law.

"We are making a law, why wait for a presidential regulation? That's strange. We make the law, and regulations like presidential regulations or government regulations follow. Why are we waiting on a Perpres? I find it strange and rather absurd," Sturman said.

Responding to this, Deputy Minister of State Secretariat Bambang Eko Suhariyanto explained that the government wants to give the President the freedom to decide the agency's nomenclature.

"Sir, if I may be frank, this article originally reflected the President's wishes, sir. So he wants the flexibility to name the agency or whatever it is, not to prohibit it. Essentially, the law shouldn't fix the agency's name," Bambang said.

According to Bambang, this provision was made to avoid locking the agency's name in law.

He added that the government had previously sent letters via the Ministry of State Secretariat to relevant institutions regarding agency nomenclature in law discussions.

"Exactly, sir. To emphasize the President's directive, we at State Secretariat sent letters to all institutions that if discussing laws, the nomenclature should not be fixed in the law but left to the President," Bambang said.

Baleg Chair Bob Hasan then reaffirmed that this issue does not eliminate the existence or authority of the institution handling agrarian reform.

According to Bob, the duties, functions, and authority of the institution must still be stipulated in the bill, while its formation and organizational structure can be regulated by Presidential Regulation.

"Yes, sir, and it's okay if the institution is mentioned as, say, a ministerial-level body directly responsible to the President. That's fine. The important thing is not to specify the name. But the functions, duties, and authorities should not be removed," Bob said.

"Because the legal structure is there. As for organizational formation and structure, that will be handled by the Perpres," he added.

Iman Sukri voiced a similar opinion, explaining that the bill ensures the existence of a special institution to implement agrarian reform.

"The question is: can we mention BRAN directly in a law article, or leave the name to the government, while ensuring the institution and its authority exist? Something like that," Iman said.

Meanwhile, the government requested to postpone discussions on this provision to conduct further consultations about the articles regulating the agrarian reform institution.