Councillor stands up for students
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Responding to the prolonged dispute over a controversial land swap deal involving SMP 56 state junior high school on Jl. Melawai Raya in South Jakarta, the City Council called on all related parties to stop using the students as "their shields".
"Please, stop exploiting the students," councillor Ahmad Heryawan of the Justice Party faction told reporters on Wednesday. "Now they don't have access to standard education as they are not studying in a normal classroom with an adequate number of teachers".
A total of 64 students started to study on the street on Monday after the city public order officers occupied the school building on Sunday, which is located near Pasaraya department store and prevented anyone from entering the compound.
One student, identified as Yani, was forcibly taken by a teacher to nearby SMP 12, around 250 meters from the school, early on Wednesday. Lies Sugeng from the school committee said that many students' parents witnessed the incident.
SMP 12 is being offered as an alternative school for the 64 students to continue their studies after the building was taken over. The city administration had earlier offered the new SMP 56 school in Jeruk Purut, South Jakarta to the students.
"They can move to other schools, including SMP 12 and the administration will take care of all the administrative procedures involved in the transfer," Heryawan said.
He alleged that some parties were using the students to further their own interests.
The dispute started in 2000 when the Ministry of National Education and developer PT Tata Disantara, owned by former manpower minister Abdul Latief, signed a land swap deal. Two school buildings in Jeruk Purut and Bintaro, both in South Jakarta, were exchanged for the property in Melawai.
The parents and teachers suspected corruption and therefore filed a civil suit against the deal with the South Jakarta District Court. The court rejected the suit and the parents and teachers are awaiting a ruling from the Jakarta High Court.
Heryawan encouraged the parents and teachers to pursue their case through legal channels, but asked them to put the needs of the students first.
"Let the students choose which school they want to go to so they can continue their studies," he said.
The dispute also attracted the attention of the House of Representatives Commission VI on human resources and religious affairs, which will summons Governor Sutiyoso, minister Abdul Malik Fajar and Latief for clarification.
Legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) even visited the site on Wednesday.
At City Hall, Sutiyoso claimed he was ready for to be summoned.
"When I am summoned, I will come. I have no problem with that."