Land tillers pledge hunger strike<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): More than 400 hundred heads of families will
\nbegin a hunger strike on April 10 unless the city administration
\nrevokes the operating permit of a private developer who is taking
\nover the land they have tilled for decades.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one people, claiming to represent 460 families, went to
\nCity Council yesterday to announce their hunger strike, saying it
\nwas their last option because all their other efforts had failed.<\/p>\n
Rusman Dolong, their spokesman, said they were all members of
\nthe association of former fighters for Irian Barat (now Irian
\nJaya), BKKB PIB.<\/p>\n
Ruslan said they had sought help from the National Commission
\non Human Rights, the House of Representatives and the Jakarta
\nChapter of the Agency for Coordination of Support for the
\nDevelopment of National Stability Bakorstanasda. \"It was
\nfruitless.\"<\/p>\n
The protesters said the disputed 20-hectares was on Jl.
\nBoulevard Barat Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, and that they all
\nlived nearby.<\/p>\n
They told Commission A for administrative affairs that the
\ndeveloper, PT Sri Kebon Jeruk Permai, had not consulted them
\nbefore starting activities on the plot they have cultivated since
\nthe 1950s.<\/p>\n
Rusman said the company's president commissioner, Mas'ud, a
\nretired general, promised to discuss possible compensation with
\nthem.<\/p>\n
\"We were still waiting for the discussion when the developer
\nstarted its activities,\" said Rusman.<\/p>\n
The tillers were shocked when the developer held a ground
\nbreaking ceremony on Jan. 3, 1996, said Rusman, who is the head
\nof the association.<\/p>\n
He claimed the developer's activities had caused the deaths of
\nsome of the tillers.<\/p>\n
Rusman said many of them had become vendors and scavengers
\nsince losing their land.<\/p>\n
Banang, member of Commission A, told them the commission would
\nhelp them. (11)<\/p>",
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