Court ruling over Jl. Sabang land criticized
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)