118 former servicemen to sue Air Force chief

118 former servicemen to sue Air Force chief

JAKARTA (JP): As many as 118 former Air Force members living in the Halim Perdanakusuma housing complex in East Jakarta will sue the Air Force chief over an order to leave the houses.

The residents, all former Air Force servicemen, yesterday gave authority to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) to file a lawsuit against the Air Force chief with the East Jakarta District Court.

Spokesman for the residents, Suhartono said that they could not accept the order to vacate the houses without compensation.

The Air Force plans to use the houses for active servicemen.

The residents claimed that the houses were constructed with their money in 1967.

"The Air Force did not give us retirement pay when we retired, because the money was used to finance the construction of the houses," he said.

According to regulations, each serviceman gets retirement pay upon retiring.

Suhartono said in 1967 the amount was Rp 75,000 for each serviceman. At the time, the land price was Rp 100 per square meter, so that Rp 75,000 was enough to pay for land and a 36- square-meter house, he added.

The residents demanded yesterday that the Air Force give them the houses or pay each family Rp 300 million in compensation for moving.

They said Rp 300 million today is the equivalent of the Rp 75,000 in retirement pay they should have received in 1967.

Another resident, Satijo Widodoho, said that the residents would not move from the housing complex pending the court's final decision.

He said the residents had earlier filed a lawsuit but the court dropped it for being incomplete.

"We hope LBH will arrange a complete lawsuit so that the court can process it soon," he said.

Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan of the legal institute promised to arrange the residents' lawsuit and file it with the court as soon as possible. (29)