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)