City ponders swapping yet another school for property from private firm

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Junior high school No. 56 in Melawai, South Jakarta, was swapped away by the city administration to a private company, and now parents are fighting to save a junior high school in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, from sharing the same fate.

Parents of students of junior high school No. 273 arrived at the City Council on Friday to demand the administration cancel a plan to deal the school and the 3,752 square meters of land on which it sits to a private company.

Toro, one of the parents, called on the City Council to stop the deal, saying the 450 students at the school would suffer if they had to move to new, more distant schools.

"The majority of the students live in Tanah Abang and the surrounding areas .... We hope the council will stop the deal," said Toro.

He said the parents were concerned by rumors the students would be moved to a school in Cibubur, East Jakarta.

Last year, the land on which junior high school No. 56 in Melawai was sold to developer PT Tata Disantara -- owned by former manpower minister Latief.

The property was swapped for two school buildings in Jeruk Purut and Bintaro, far from where the students lived.

Protesting students and teachers continued to meet in the Melawai school, before the administration pressed charges against them for holding illegal educational activities.

Eleven members of City Council's Commission E for education, health and people's welfare drafted a petition on Friday demanding the deal for the Tanah Abang school be canceled.

Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said he had asked the City Audit Agency to investigate the matter and gather more information about the land swap.

According to Fauzi, the whole process began when the Ministry of Finance issued an agreement in principle to swap the Tanah Abang school for a parcel of land on July 13, 2000.

Then on Feb. 13, 2001, the National Education Office in Jakarta, in letter No. 112/10.E/LK/2003, named PT Karta Loka Adhi Mandiri as the candidate buyer of the school.

On June 27, 2001, the Ministry of National Education handed over the process to the city administration.

"But we have not received any detailed information about the land swap, like who the buyers are or when the execution date is. We want to know more," said Fauzi.