Evicted people set up union<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Evicted people, whose lands were cleared to make
\nway for development projects in the city and surrounding areas,
\npledged yesterday to take back thousands of hectares of their
\nproperty.<\/p>\n
Their representatives established a new organization called
\nEvicted Victims Community at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute
\nyesterday with the aim of negotiating with the government for the
\nreturn of their lands.<\/p>\n
\"We will unite to get our lands back and our struggle will be
\nbased on legal procedures,\" the organization's chairman, Rahardjo
\nDarsoprajitno, said.<\/p>\n
The first target of the organization will be to meet with
\nPresident B.J. Habibie, said Rahardjo, who is also a
\nrepresentative of Kemayoran residents who were evicted by the
\nState Secretariat under the New Order government for the
\nconstruction of a new residential area.<\/p>\n
\"We were intimidated and forced to leave our land by land
\nbuyers who had the help of military personnel and government
\nofficials. Now we demand that Habibie's administration help us
\nget back our lands,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Dewi Novirianti of the institute said the evicted
\npeople from 46 locations would ask the Supreme Court, which has
\ndozens of land cases to review, to support them.<\/p>\n
The people will also visit the National Commission on Human
\nRights to complain about alleged human right violations practiced
\nduring the eviction process, Dewi said.<\/p>\n
She said the organization would also hold peaceful
\ndemonstrations to air their demands.<\/p>\n
\"We hope more people will join us. The evictions from the 46
\nlocations involve thousands of families,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She said some of the evicted people had been helped by the
\ninstitute in their land disputes but others were new cases.<\/p>\n
According to Dewi, hundreds of Cimacan residents in Cianjur
\nwho joined the new organization continued yesterday to cultivate
\ntheir land, on which a golf course had been established.<\/p>\n
Dozens of the evicted people attending the organization's
\nlaunching ceremony yesterday were dissatisfied by the limited
\ntime of the media conference. They expected coverage of all 46
\ncases.<\/p>\n
\"In the future, we possibly should bring hundreds or even
\nthousands of people in a demonstration to get our lands back,\"
\nHenry M. Ali, one of the organization's members, said.<\/p>\n
A representative from Cikarang, Bekasi, also joined the
\norganization to air his dissatisfaction over the appropriation of
\nhis land by a company controlled by Soeharto's eldest daughter,
\nSiti \"Tutut\" Hardijanti Rukmana. (jun)<\/p>",
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