Supreme Court Grants Cassation in Labuan Bajo Land Dispute

Labuan Bajo — Indonesia’s Supreme Court has granted cassation in a land dispute in the Labuan Bajo tourism area, overturning a lower-court ruling that had cancelled a preliminary sale-and-purchase agreement between seller Muhamad Saing and investor Lie Sian, according to local reporting.

The case was decided under cassation number 1759 K/Pdt/2026 and dated 26 June 2026, PR NTT reported. Another local outlet later reported the same dispute and said the Supreme Court’s decision appeared in the court’s electronic case system on 29 June 2026.

The dispute centres on a preliminary land-sale agreement, or PPJB, signed in 2024 for land in Gorontalo village, Komodo district, West Manggarai. According to the reporting, the Supreme Court’s ruling restored the PPJB after the Kupang High Court had sided with the seller and cancelled the agreement.

What the dispute is about

PR NTT reported that Saing sought to cancel the PPJB after receiving information from the National Land Agency, or BPN, that the inherited land covered by the deal was within a coastal setback area. The same report said the buyer’s side argued that the administrative documents needed for a land certificate were complete.

Okebajo reported that the underlying land dispute began in 2025 and that the Labuan Bajo District Court had first rejected Saing’s cancellation lawsuit before the Kupang High Court later granted it. The Supreme Court then accepted Lie Sian’s cassation, according to the outlet.

Lie Sian told reporters that the dispute had delayed a planned villa, restaurant and related business activities. PR NTT and Okebajo both quoted her legal team as saying accumulated losses and penalties approached Rp10 billion, but the figure was presented as the investor’s estimate, not as a court-awarded amount.

What has been confirmed

Both reports say the central legal question was whether the PPJB remained valid despite the seller’s challenge. They also say the Supreme Court’s cassation outcome reversed the appellate court’s cancellation of the agreement.

The reports do not indicate that any criminal case has been filed, and they do not describe any final construction permit or land-title certification being completed. They also do not publish the full Supreme Court reasoning.

For investors, the case highlights the importance of checking land boundaries, coastal-setback status, inheritance records and document-handling obligations before committing capital in the Labuan Bajo area.

Sources

• PR NTT
• Okebajo