At least 250 job seekers cheated by brokers: Soni

JAKARTA (JP): At least 250 people applying for the State Minister of Agrarian's office/National Land Agency have been cheated by brokers, Minister Soni Harsono said yesterday.

After meeting with President Soeharto at Istana Merdeka yesterday, Soni said the job seekers, who came to his office late last month, said they had paid between Rp 4 million (US$1,600) and Rp 6 million to unidentified men who promised them jobs at the office.

As many as 216 of the job seekers went directly to the ministry's office with letters of appointment to find out if they had been accepted, Soni said. "The others just telephoned from their home towns."

Eighty-two of the 216 people were from Lampung, 84 from East Java, and the rest from other provinces.

"They found out that they had been cheated after they were told that the appointment letters were falsified," said Soni.

The applicants, with high school and university qualifications, were told that Sudariyanto, a former deputy minister, had never signed such appointment letters.

They said they underwent an entrance test last December. But Soni did not say where they were tested.

Soni said he was very shocked by the fraud. "Sudariyanto is no longer my deputy, now he has become the minister's secretary."

This was the second fraud at a government office in April alone. On April 17, 288 people went to the Ministry of Transmigration to start work only to find that their letters of appointment were forged.

Soni said he believed that none of his subordinates were involved. He said the fraud had been reported to police, but he did not say whether police had made any arrest.

The minister said recruitment at his ministry involved tight and transparent selection.

"People who have bribed to get a job (as civil servants) will in the future abuse their position by corruption or take bribes to get their money back," said Soni.

In the meeting with Soeharto, the minister also reported on a palm oil pilot project in South Sumatra, where a nucleus-plasma scheme will be carried out.

Indigenous landowners were the nucleus and the plantation firms were the plasma who would rearrange the plantation area in a land consolidation system, he said.

Under the scheme, the farmers would not only maintain the ownership of the land, but would also work for the plantation firms, which are obliged to buy the farmers' products.

"We involve 13 big investors who own an area of 118,000 hectares of land, while farmers have a total of 178,965 hectares," said Soni. He did not reveal the number of farmers involved in the project.

He said investors were enthusiastic with the plan because they did not necessarily have to buy the farmers' land. (06)