Affirmation from Ara on State Land in Tanah Abang Claimed by Hercules
Housing and Settlement Areas Minister Maruarar Sirait (Ara) has affirmed the status of land in Tanah Abang, Jakarta, earmarked for the construction of subsidised apartments (rusun), as state-owned land. Previously, Grib Jaya General Chairman Rosario de Marshall, alias Hercules, claimed the land belonged to Sulaeman Efendi’s heirs.
“We have received input from the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, from the Danantara Management Agency, namely Mr Donny, and from the PT KAI Director that it is state-owned land. We will follow up, we are confident it belongs to the state,” Ara said after a meeting at the Ministry of State Apparatus Utilisation and Bureaucratic Reform (PANRB) office in South Jakarta on Wednesday (15/4/2026), as reported by detikProperti.
She is confident the land’s status is state-owned, not belonging to any other party as claimed by Hercules. The land has long been unused, so the government intends to utilise it for building subsidised rusun to prevent it from being seized by others.
“If there are parties who feel they own it, we are certainly confident it belongs to the state. I have asked directly to Mr Donny and also to the PT KAI Director that it is state-owned land,” Ara emphasised.
Ara also reaffirmed that the subsidised rusun construction project will proceed despite current claims by other parties. “So (it will be built). We will examine that issue,” she stated.
President Prabowo Subianto is already aware of the news that PT KAI land in Tanah Abang will be used for subsidised rusun. “I have already informed the President, for use in the interests of people’s housing,” she revealed.
Previously reported, some time ago, a video showed Ara appearing to argue with Hercules regarding the status of the land in Tanah Abang. The land is planned to be used for the construction of subsidised rusun.
This stemmed from a visit by the Ministry of PKP together with PT KAI and the Head of BUMN Oversight Agency Dony Oskaria, who inspected approximately 3 hectares of land in the Tanah Abang Station area. The visit on Sunday (5/4/2026) was to check the land’s readiness for building subsidised rusun for residents along the railway tracks.
According to the Ministry of PKP, the land belongs to PT KAI with clean and clear status. However, it is illegally occupied by the community.
In the video, Ara and Hercules were seen debating the land to be used. Ara said she wanted to use the land for the people’s housing.
“So not for developers and so on,” she said, quoted from her personal Instagram @maruararsirait.
In the same video, Hercules said that if the land indeed belongs to the state, he would surrender it.
“The HPL is for managing the land, not for owning it. If this is state-owned, today I will hand it over,” said Hercules.
Separately, Grib Jaya Advocacy and Legal Team Chairman Wilson Colling explained their ownership status over the land. He stated that the land in Tanah Abang is still owned by Sulaeman Efendi’s heirs, not PT KAI.
Wilson Colling said the land, which has a verponding right from the Dutch era converted to Indonesian Verponding No. 946, is still occupied by the heirs. Based on PM 1 certificate issued by the local lurah, from 2004 to 2007 it was physically controlled by the heirs, and it continues to be occupied to this day.
Meanwhile, Management Rights (HPL) Numbers 5 and 6, which form the basis for PT KAI’s claim that the land is state-owned, were issued in 2008. These HPL were issued based on an administrative process at the Ministry of Transportation from verponding number 14399, which according to Wilson, is not located in Tanah Abang.
“If I look at their data, from the Ministry of Transportation’s conversion of verponding 14399, it is not in the land map at that location if it’s the conversion of land 14399. That’s why the PT KAI Director said the land originally came from grontkaard (land card), there is no grontkaard there, meaning he did not read the data,” he told detikcom on Monday (13/4/2026).