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)