Bogor residents defy land appropriation
Bogor residents defy land appropriation
JAKARTA (JP): About 100 people representing more than 200 villagers from the Bogor regency, West Java, filed a complaint with the National Commission on Human Rights yesterday over what they claim was the illegal appropriation of 300 hectares of land by PT Bahana Sukmasejahtera for a tourism development program.
The residents of Pasir Jaya and Tugu Jaya, 60 km east of the capital, crowded the commission's meeting room and hung banners, some of which said: "Get off our land PT BSS", and "They pay only Rp 150 (US 7 cent) per square meter in compensation and sell it for Rp 100,000."
According to their spokesman Dutarso, PT Bahana claims it successfully bid for 925 hectares of land that belonged to the state-owned plantation company PTP XI at a 1993 auction and is therefore entitled to use it as it wishes.
However, the protesters said yesterday that the auctioned land did not include 300 hectares they had obtained in 1945.
Another complaint is the role of the local authorities. "They have burdened us with land taxes and other requirements. Why do they now wash their hands of the case?" Dutarso asked.
Ishak L., PT Bahana's operations manager, told The Jakarta Post the land covers nine villages, including the 300 hectares around Pasir Jaya and Tugu Jaya.
The protesters told commission member Munawir Szadjali, who is a former minister of religious affairs, that PT Bahana has already bulldozed 90 hectares of their land in Pasir Jaya since January, destroying the crops and any buildings standing on it.
"We never received the Rp 150 per square meter which the company management said they had paid to the land owners," Dutarso said. "Anyway, what use is Rp 150 compensation? Its nothing."
The villagers said they would not mind having their land used by the company, "but there should be fair compensation," Ratmini, one of the protesters, said.
According to her, the land is currently worth at least Rp 36,000 per square meter.
"We found that the company paid some people Rp 15,000 per square meter, now they offer us only Rp 150" Gultom, another protester, said.
The disparity in the amounts arises from what the land was used for, according to Ishak. He said PT Bahana valued land occupied by buildings at the higher value and unoccupied land at the lower value.
The villagers said they had tried to contact the management, whom they said was not available for consultation.
"The company management keeps telling us that the order comes from a son of President Soeharto," some of them said yesterday, adding that this was their way of scaring the villagers.
Commission member Munawir Szadjali urged the protesters yesterday not to cause any disturbances in their village as they threatened to do. He said he would send a team to investigate the matter next week. (03)