Airport management declared guilty of illegal land seizure

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

PT Perum Angkasa Pura II (PAP), which manages the Soekarno- Hatta International Airport, was declared guilty of illegally seizing land belonging to 16 residents living near the airport on Thursday.

Presiding Judge Ade Komarudin of the Tangerang District Court said that the company had no right to the land belonging to the people, and must return it to them.

However, the court rejected the claims of 40 other residents as they failed to prove their legal ownership to the land.

The court made the verdict based on the suit filed by a total of 56 residents who live in Karang Sari and Karang Anyar subdistricts of Neglasri district near the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Represented by lawyer Sudjanto Sujana, the residents accused PAP for illegally seizing their land which totals 4.5 hectares.

They said that in 1996, representatives of the company came to measure their land and said of their intentions to buy it. However, the residents claimed that they had never received any money from the company. Therefore, they were surprised to know that the company obtained the Right of Building (HGB) document over the disputed land, which was issued by the Tangerang Land Agency in 1998.

As the judge finished reading the verdict, about 100 villagers who packed the courtroom staged a noisy protest.

"PAP claimed our land but they have never paid us," H. Mansur, a local figure, said.

Still upset, they scolded the panel of judges and said they would appeal to a higher court.

Meanwhile, PAP lawyers Amin Birawa and Rustam Nawawi, who are both retired prosecutors, said they would also appeal. They claimed that PAP had earlier spent a lot of money for the land clearance and had also evidence of lawful ownership of the land.

Two dozens of police officers who were deployed at the court building managed to calm down the people.