Irian man can start again: Soerjono<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice Soerjono said yesterday that the
\nJayapura district court had the authority either to comply with
\nor ignore a letter he wrote to it earlier this month, purportedly
\noverturning an earlier Supreme Court decision to award an
\nIrianese man Rp 18.6 billion (US$8.5 million) in a land dispute
\nwith the governor of Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
\"According to the law on the Supreme Court, only the head of a
\ndistrict court has the authority to execute or reject a decision
\nof the supreme court,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the Supreme Court's earlier decision in favor of
\nHanoch Hebe Ohee, who represented the Ongge and Hanoch keret
\n(sub-clans), could not be executed because the defendant was not
\na legal body which owned property.<\/p>\n
He advised the plaintiffs to bring a new suit.<\/p>\n
\"In civil matters people can file lawsuits any time if they
\nbelieve that a verdict is unfair,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In 1992 the Supreme Court ordered the Irian Jaya governor and
\nheads of the Irian Jaya office of the Directorate of Agriculture,
\nthe Directorate of Commercial Plantations, the Directorate of
\nForestry, the Directorate of Animal Husbandry, and the
\nDirectorate of Fishery to pay the plaintiff Rp 18.6 billion in
\ncompensation for land appropriated by the provincial
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
The dispute, over a 62 hectare plot of land located about 30
\nkilometers from the Sentani Airport, began in 1984 when Ohee
\nsought to regain the property from the Irian government.<\/p>\n
Ohee, who has spent no less than Rp 1 billion (US$450,000) on
\nthe 10 year legal battle, claims that the property is communal
\nland belonging to his clan since the 1940s.<\/p>\n
He won the legal battle at the district court level in July,
\n1985. After losing an appeal to the high court, the provincial
\ngovernment appealed to the Supreme Court in 1988 and lost again.<\/p>\n
Soerjono said yesterday that the lawsuit should have been
\nfiled, not only against the Irian Jaya governor, but also against
\nthe five agencies. (imn)<\/p>",
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