Residents oppose planned cemetery<\/p>\n
BOGOR (JP): Residents of Palasari village at Cijeruk district
\nhere rejected on Friday the Sri Asih Pratama foundation's plan to
\nbuild a luxury cemetery on a 32-hectare plot of land which used
\nto belong to them.<\/p>\n
The residents questioned the plan as they were not consulted.<\/p>\n
Ade and Wahyudi, two of the local residents, acknowledged that
\nthe land was cleared by the foundation in 1992, but it never told
\nthem what its objectives were.<\/p>\n
\"The foundation promised to build a new one-kilometer street
\nin the village, but the promise never materialized,\" the two
\nresidents said.<\/p>\n
Without informing the residents, the foundation provided an
\nexpensive burial for a former business tycoon from Jambi on
\nThursday. The burial reportedly cost about Rp 2.5 billion, and
\nthe deceased was transported there by helicopter. The burial was
\ntightly guarded by military personnel in case of any anticipated
\nresistance from the locals.<\/p>\n
Ahmadi, another local resident, said that the family of the
\ndeceased had reportedly bought a 5,000-square-meter plot of land
\nin the area from the foundation at Rp 500,000 per square meter.<\/p>\n
He reiterated that the residents strongly opposed the
\nfoundation's intention to build a cemetery there. \"The foundation
\nshould have talked to us before launching the development of the
\ncemetery,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Palasari village head Atay Suharta said he knew nothing about
\nthe foundation's plan. \"I will report this to the district head
\nas I'm afraid the local residents will be angry if I don't do
\nit,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that the foundation said it had secured recommendation
\nNo. 593\/616 dated on Feb. 24, 1994, and it was signed by former
\nWest Java governor HM Sampurna.<\/p>\n
But the recommendation was already out of date, Atay said, and
\nthe foundation should not enforce the plan.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jenner Simanjuntak, a spokesman of Bogor regency,
\nsaid that the recommendation alone was inadequate.<\/p>\n
It also needed a land use permit from the regency in line with
\nthe existing city spatial plan, he said.<\/p>\n
The foundation could not be reached for comment as its address
\nwas unknown. (21\/hhr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/residents-oppose-planned-cemetery-1447893297",
"image": ""
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