Cipta Jaya seeking justice in 800-hectare land dispute

JAKARTA (JP): The PT Cipta Jaya Raya plantation company asserted over the weekend that the 800 hectares of land in Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra, whose ownership is being disputed by PT Indo Sepadan Jaya, is part of its 1,300-ha estate concession.

"The plot of land which has been cultivated by Indo Sepadan is part of my concession on the basis of the Right of Land Exploitation (land title) No. 2/1994 that I obtained from the Labuhan Batu office of the National Land Agency," said Surya, Cipta Jaya's director.

Surya was commenting on House member Bachtiar Chamzah's allegations made last Wednesday, as quoted by this newspaper, that the justification for granting Cipta Jaya the land title for its 1,300-ha plantation concession in January 1994 was questionable.

Surya produced copies of the certified detailed site plan, which shows that his concession borders the 3,885-ha area currently being cultivated by Indo Sepadan. The two concessions, he said, are clearly demarcated.

He also rejected as groundless Bachtiar's allegations that Cipta Jaya had neglected its concession.

"I obtained my land title only on Jan. 24, 1994, on the basis of Decree No.32 dated Dec. 4, 1993, from the minister of agrarian affairs," Surya added.

He said he learned that Indo Sepadan was illegally cultivating the 800-ha concession in early 1994, when he was making land development preparations, which include the construction of a six-kilometer access road to the area.

In fact, he added, the director of Indo Sepadan was found guilty last month by the district court in Medan of illegally cultivating Cipta Jaya's land.

He said his company also has filed a civil law suit against Indo Sepadan at the district court in Medan but that the case is still being processed.

Surya recounted, with the support of related documents, that he began the long process of acquiring the concession in 1985 after he obtained a letter of recommendation from the Labuhan Batu regent.

He said regulations on state land acquisition required him to follow 12 other steps at various government agencies, including several site inspections by inter-departmental teams.

All the procedural steps took nearly eight years to complete until the minister of agrarian affairs in Jakarta finally issued a decree for his land title in December, 1993, he added.

"Obviously, I cannot start cultivating my concession before all the required permits have been obtained," Surya said in denying the allegation that his company had neglected its concession.

He then asked why the government had not seen to it that Indo Sepadan return to Cipta Jaya the 800-ha plot of land on which the former company unlawfully planted oil palm trees.(vin)