Planned cemetery move meets protest<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A faction of the city council urged the city
\nadministration yesterday to cancel the plan to relocate the
\nSanjaya community cemetery in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The spokesman of the United Development Party faction,
\nMuhammad Rodja, said the relocation plan, which is based on the
\nruislag barter system, should be canceled because the land does
\nnot belong to the city administration.<\/p>\n
\"It is impossible to carry out the plan because the land is
\nnot owned by the city. Therefore, it should be canceled,\" Rodja
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The faction was commenting on results of a hearing between the
\ncouncil's commission E for social welfare and the city cemetery
\nagency, in which the commission urged the city to speed up the
\nbarter agreement.<\/p>\n
The secretary of the commission, Maryam Achmad, told reporters
\non Thursday that the city should quicken the relocation plan
\nbecause it has been suspended for 10 years.<\/p>\n
Rodja said the commission has made a mistake in urging the
\ncity to carry out the plan because the 11,793 square meters of
\nland on Jl. Sanjaya, now being used as a cemetery, is community
\nproperty.<\/p>\n
\"The documents from the cemetery agency show that Sanjaya
\ncemetery is still community property. In 1986, the late Mochtar
\nZakaria, the former South Jakarta mayor, assured the people that
\nthe city administration would not relocate the cemetery,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He explained that the cemetery was built in 1917 and has
\nremained unchanged until now because there is no document which
\nstates that the city owns the land.<\/p>\n
Rodja said that his faction will ask the council's speaker to
\nreview city council decree No.2\/1985 which approved a proposal to
\nchange the land use from a cemetery into a residential area.<\/p>\n
\"The decree should be reviewed as an effort to protect the
\ncemetery,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Rodja, the city administration signed a barter
\nagreement with a private developer, PT Citra Lestari Sentosa, in
\n1985.<\/p>\n
The agreement stipulated that the developer can develop the
\ncemetery. In return, it was asked to build a junior high school
\nbuilding and a street in West and Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Rodja added that the faction is also protesting a policy to
\nrelocate the city's cemeteries, especially those located on plots
\nof land belonging to the community.<\/p>\n
\"Cemeteries are important, because they also function as the
\ncity's green areas,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The city should have developed the cemeteries and turned them
\ninto beautiful green areas rather than relocate them and use the
\nareas for apartments or real estate, Rodja said.<\/p>\n
He said that the faction has been trying to stop the policy
\n\"But the city administration is \"too powerful\". In fact, we have
\nbeen urging the administration to stop the policy in every
\nplenary season. But it simply ignored us and relocation
\ncontinued,\" he said. (yns)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/planned-cemetery-move-meets-protest-1447893297",
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