Farmers seek Council's help in land dispute
Farmers seek Council's help in land dispute
JAKARTA (JP): A group of farmers sought the City Council's
help yesterday over their land dispute with a private developer
belonging to the giant Ciputra Group.
At stake, according to the farmers, is a four-hectare plot in
Kalideres, West Jakarta, on which they live and grow rice to earn
a living. The land has been claimed by PT Citra Regency.
Eight people, claiming to represent 50 families, asked the
council to intervene and secure a solution, citing fair
compensation for their land as one possibility.
The company reportedly claims to have bought the property from
PT Podomoro in 1974 and is now turning the area, part of a 20-
hectare development, into a luxury housing complex.
The company was not available for comment on the feud
yesterday.
Idroes, a spokesman for the farmers, insisted they were the
rightful owners of the land because they had the land titles and
had been paying property tax every year.
"We never sold our property to anyone," Idroes said.
The feud surfaced when the farmers decided to sell their
property to Citra Regency in 1992 when they realized that the
whole area was being converted into a housing complex.
"But we received a shocking answer. Citra said they already
had bought the land from a third party," Idroes said.
Whoever sold the land had the necessary land certificates,
while the farmers only had girik, a land title which is weaker in
legal terms.
Citra went ahead with the plan to build up the area because
they had the certificates, the farmers were told.
"We checked with the subdistrict office, and they gave the
same answer. Our land had been sold in 1974," Idroes said.
He suspected that subdistrict officials were involved in
producing land certificates, which were only possible if they had
girik titles in the first place.
"There are only three parties holding girik. Us, the
subdistrict office and the National Land Agency.
"How could the developer have bought the land if we still had
the original legal documents?" Idroes asked.
He said given that the developer had started construction, the
farmers would settle for compensation calculated on the going
market rate, which he put at Rp 150,000 (US$52) per square meter.
(07)