Foundation denies it failed to pay rent

Foundation denies it failed to pay rent

JAKARTA (JP): Ya Bunayya Foundation, co-publisher of Kiblat
magazine, has denied allegations that they failed to pay the
rental fee of its office to the Haj Pilgrimage Foundation (PHI)

"It is not true that we failed to pay the rent as the
agreement stated that we have a six months grace period during
which we were allowed to use the place free of charge," Hari
Utomo, the marketing manager of the magazine, told a press
conference on Tuesday.

He explained that the agreement allows the Ya Bunayya
foundation to pay the annual rent six months after the signing
of the contract.

"We signed it in December 1988 but in November 1989 they
canceled the agreement saying that we had failed to pay the rent.
It is obvious that they do not understand the grace period,"
Utomo said.

He said the foundation paid the first year's Rp 18 million
(US$8,256.88) rent but then PHI refused to except the second year
rent of Rp 21 million.

"I think there was a different perception of grace period,"
Utomo said, adding that Ya Bunayya has spent around Rp 1.5
billion in renovating the building and establishing the magazine.

The former owner of the building housing the offices of Kiblat
said that PT Technodev Inti Utama legally purchased the building
following the failure of the magazine to execute their working
agreement.

Earlier reports said that the Haj Pilgrimage Foundation (PHI)
had sold the 514-square-meter property on Jl. H. Agus Salim in
July although it was legally bound to an 18-year build-operate-
and-transfer contract, which was signed six years ago with the
management of Kiblat.

Dozens of employees of the biweekly magazine, who said they
felt they had been stabbed in the back by the foundation's move,
refused to vacate the building and even challenged the validity
of the land title.

Amid the dispute dozens of thugs, who claimed to work for
Technodev, raided the building and harassed the magazine's
employees.

Legal suit

Ya Bunayya foundation has announced that it will settle the
matter in court because there is no other way to settle it.

"Our intention is based on facts that efforts to settle out of
court are impossible because the other party always breaks the
agreement," Hari Utomo, marketing manager of Kiblat magazine,
said.

He explained that PT Technodev has violated the agreement by
putting the building in this current predicament.

"I asked for a written agreement but they refused to do so.
The chairman of the meeting from the municipal office of public
order said that we should trust each other, but then the
developer started demolishing the building," said Purbadi
Hardjoprajitno, a lawyer who represents the foundation.

Purbadi pointed out two important things which sparked the
dispute: PHI could not break ties with Ya Bunayya foundation, and
the permit given to the state-owned bank PT Bank Dagang Negara
(BDN) to use the land has expired.

"That's the reason why BDN never said a word about that
matter, including PT Technodev's authority to buy the land from
PHI," Purbadi said.

Hari Utomo explained that the legal steps being taken are to
save assets belonging to Moslems because the building was funded
by donations sent to the magazine.

"We put an advertisement in the magazine announcing that we
accepted readers' donations to build the building, and we have a
moral obligation to them," Utomo said. (yns)