Council faction protests over cemeteries plan

Council faction protests over cemeteries plan

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party faction of the city
council protested the administration's plan to move 550 private
cemeteries.

Deputy chairman of the faction, Saud Rachman, said that the
plan is in direct contradiction to the program to increase the
city's green areas, of which the cemeteries form a part.

"The city administration intends to increase the number of
green areas in the city and this plan is not in line with the
policy," Saud said.

Saud said the administration should have at least 19,500
hectares of cultivated land or 30 percent of the total city area.

He said that currently there are only 3,000 hectares of parks
and 11,000 hectares of paddy and horticulture fields.

"It is obvious that the city still needs the cemeteries which
double up as green areas," he said.

He also said that the plan to move the cemeteries, or merge
them with city-owned graveyards also goes against plans to
increase the total area used for cemeteries from 500 hectares to
700 hectares.

The City Cemetery Agency announced on Tuesday the plan which
would result in the elimination of 550 burial locations on a
total of 92 hectares throughout the capital.

Planning

The agency claimed that the location of these cemeteries,
which include family cemeteries and 'tanah wakaf' (property
donated for religious or community use), are not in line with
city planning.

Another councilor of the faction, Muhammad Rodja, said that
just because the sites of the cemeteries are not in line with
city planning does not necessarily mean that they should be
moved.

"It would be unwise if the administration were to change the
function of the cemeteries," he said.

Rodja said that the city should respect the wishes of the
families who donated their land to be used as cemeteries, and
appreciate their community spirit.

"The city administration should keep the cemeteries and
include them in the cemetery improvement program," he said,
referring to a program aimed at maintaining burial sites as water
catchment areas.

He said the city administration will not need to spend as much
money creating green areas in the city, if it retained the
cemeteries.

Rodja also said that moving cemeteries from 'tanah wakaf' would
not be that simple.

"According to Islamic law, as soon as a plot is donated, the
land belongs to all Moslems and no one has the right to the land,
not even the families of the donors," he said. (yns)