Airport management declared guilty of illegal land seizure

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.