Plantation firms told to return disputed land<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as
\nGus Dur, has instructed state owned plantation companies to
\nreturn some 40 percent of land taken by force or bought at unfair
\nprices from local people in the past.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur said in a statement distributed following a late
\nMonday cabinet meeting on the economy, that the plantation firms
\ncould return the land physically or provide shares to the
\naffected people.<\/p>\n
According to the statement, the President stressed that this
\npolicy only applies to land which involves legal problems.<\/p>\n
The statement said that the new government was aware that some
\nof the land owned by state-owned companies or private companies
\nhad been seized unfairly from the people and had caused problems
\nin the past.<\/p>\n
It's no secret that many state enterprises and politically
\nwell-connected conglomerates had used force and intimidation to
\nacquire land from people at prices far below market value during
\nthe previous authoritarian government of Soeharto.<\/p>\n
The statement also said that Gus Dur supported efforts by the
\nMinister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to
\n\"legalize\" the illegal mining activities which were mostly
\nconducted by traditional miners.<\/p>\n
\"This will help avoid conflict between the people's mining and
\nhuge scale mining,\" the statement said.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur has also agreed to demands from the West Sumatran
\npeople to spin off PT Semen Padang from the state-owned cement
\nmaker PT Semen Gresik on grounds that the former was built on
\nheritage land.<\/p>\n
The statement said that Gus Dur had ordered State Minister for
\nInvestments and State Enterprises Development Rozy Munir to make
\na valuation of Semen Padang's price to be used as a basis for
\nnegotiation with Mexico's cement maker Cemex SA de CV.<\/p>\n
Semen Gresik owns up to 46 percent shares in Semen Padang.<\/p>\n
Cemex has a 25 percent stake in the publicly listed Semen
\nGresik. The company has plans to increase its Semen Gresik stake
\nto around 40 percent.<\/p>\n
The government had to drop plans to sell a majority stake to
\nCemex in 1998 following widespread protests from the West
\nSumatran people.<\/p>\n
The President has also ordered the Coordinating Minister for
\nEconomy, Finance and Industry Kwik Kian Gie to study the \"Blue
\nSky\" project designed by the Ministry of Mines of Energy to help
\nsignificantly reduce the lead content in fuel products.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur said that Kwik must also decide the source of
\nfinancing and its mechanism for the project.<\/p>\n
The cabinet meeting also concluded that the lending procedure
\nfor export oriented industries must be eased down in a bid to
\nhelp recover the country's embattled real sector.<\/p>\n
In an effort to boost the country's exports, Gus Dur has
\ninstructed Kwik and Finance Minister Bambang Sudibyo to
\ncoordinate with Bank Indonesia and the Indonesian Bank
\nRestructuring Agency (IBRA) to seek ways to take advantage of
\nsome Rp 700 trillion worth of excess liquidity in the banking
\nsector to help finance the export industries.(rei\/byg)<\/p>",
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