Court ruling over Jl. Sabang land criticized

JAKARTA (JP): A prominent lawyer criticized the recent decision by the Supreme Court on the land dispute on Jl. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta because it ignored existing principles of trade jurisprudence.

"According to existing laws a buyer who has goodwill must be protected, but ironically in the land dispute on Jl. Agus Salim, such buyers are not protected," said lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis yesterday, when asked to comment about the new Supreme Court decision on the issue.

The dispute, known as the Sabang Corner Case, began back in 1967 when Yemen born Mrs. Fetum Abdullah sold her property to Zainul Anwar Salim. She then resold the land to the Jakarta Military Command in 1972.

The Jakarta Military Command then sold the land to another party. Ownership has since changed several times.

The last owners of the two adjacent plots were PT Jaman Sentosa (PT JS) and PT Sari Graha Mandala (PT SGM). Deed No. 116 was owned by PT JS and deed No. 138 was owned by PT SGM.

Both companies bought the land from noted banker Mochtar Riyadi.

Knowing the land was being occupied by other people, Zainul took the case to the Central Jakarta District Court to claim ownership, but it ruled against him. This decision was upheld by the Jakarta High Court.

Zainul appealed to the Supreme Court, which in 1983 ruled that the 1967 land purchase was legal.

In 1991, Dahniar, Yarni Rizal and Mohammad Rusli, all children of Zainul who had since passed away, filed another lawsuit with the Jakarta Administrative Court. The case ultimately reached the Supreme Court which ruled them the rightful owners of the land. The Supreme Court's ruling was issued on Feb. 6, 1993.

However, the new Supreme Court ruling made on Oct. 12, 1994, stipulated that the Supreme Court revoked the ownership of the two plots from PT JS and PT SGM.

Refused

The Supreme Court also refused to name Dahniar and siblings as the owners. It also ordered the National Land Agency (BPN) to revoke their land ownership.

Lubis, a lawyer who was representing the two companies, said the ruling is a bad precedent for the Indonesian business community because the court could revoke land ownership anytime.

He said that the two companies should be protected by law since they were the two buyers who had authentic land certificates and have fulfilled all of their obligations as the buyers.

Lubis described the new ruling as confusing. "Because the Supreme Court has revoked the ownership of the land without identifying an owner," he said.

The two plots are located on Jl. Agus Salim (formerly Jl. Sabang), Central Jakarta. The size of the two plots is 7,100 square meters. (mas)