Court cancels land seizure over technicality
Court cancels land seizure over technicality
JAKARTA (JP): Karawang District Court canceled on Wednesday
its plan to seize a 237.5 hectare plot of land currently occupied
by national car producer PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN) in
Cikampek, some 90 kilometers east of here, over a legal
technicality.
A team of court employees and Budi Prakoso, the owner of
agribusiness company PT Saprotan, which is the lawful owner of
the land as ruled in a December 1998 ruling of the Supreme Court,
returned home empty handed having been driven off the land by
hundreds of PT Timor supporters.
The company is owned by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the
youngest son of former president Soeharto.
The supporters, some dressed in white and others armed with
sticks, also threw stones at a truck displaying billboards
proclaiming the legal status of the land ownership.
A court official said the Karawang District Court would,
however, seize the land in the future.
"The seizure of the land will be held some time in the
future," secretary of Karawang District Court Nana Sudjana said.
Meanwhile, Budi Prakoso regretted the supporters' actions,
which prevented court officials seizing the land even though they
had the legal authority to do so as stipulated in the Supreme
Court ruling.
"The seizure of the land is a final and binding ruling of the
Supreme Court. How could it (TPN) ignore it?" Budi told
reporters.
Budi, however, said he had yet to think of taking further
action as he was still willing to settle the problem in a
reasonable manner.
"I've not decided on my next move after today's failure to
seize the land," he said, citing he had approached PT Timor a
couple of times over the planned execution, but the company had
not responded.
Earlier, Budi tried to persuade the TPN supporters to leave
the land.
"The Supreme Court ruling says this is our (PT Saprotan's)
land.
"After all, we will give you jobs if all of you leave this
place," he told the supporters.
They rejected the offer, saying: "We do not accept a single
cent from you."
The seizure, however, was opposed by TPN's lawyers -- Masiga
Bugis and Anton -- who said the disputed land was now under the
government's supervision.
"This land now belongs to the government and is under the
supervision of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA),"
Masiga said.
PT Timor will hold a media conference explaining Wednesday's
incident at its main office on Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur No. 17,
Central Jakarta, on Thursday.
The Soeharto administration appointed PT Timor in 1996 to
develop a national car and provided special privileges to run the
project, including tax breaks.
But the car project was halted when the country was at the
height of the economic crisis in 1998 amid pressure from the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
PT Timor owed several state banks some Rp 3 trillion (US$380
million) in debts, which have since been taken over by IBRA.
Timor is also controlled by the agency.
Separately, Budi Prakoso's older brother Setiawan Djodi told
The Jakarta Post that someday he would establish a car plant on
the land, if PT Timor voluntarily vacated it.
"We are now in negotiations with a giant U.S. car manufacturer
to set up a car plant on the land, along with two other plants in
China," Djodi said, but declined to mention which U.S. car firm.
"As soon as the land is free, we can start the construction of
the car plant and begin production next year."
"In the meantime, we may start the construction of two plants
in China," he added, while stressing that the car plant would be
export-oriented.(imn)