Governor tells police to clear out protesters

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso asked the city police on Thursday to take possession of the premises of joint-venture water company Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) from employees of city water company PDAM Jaya, who have occupied the property since Tuesday.

Sutiyoso said he asked city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman to take immediate action to return the premises on Jl. Penjernihan in Central Jakarta to Palyja.

"The buildings function as a public water service center. Occupying the buildings will only cause the termination of all services and make people suffer," he told reporters at City Hall.

He also asked the police chief to investigate those involved in the occupation of the premises.

"The police will decide whether the occupation of the buildings is a crime," he said.

Palyja released a media statement on Thursday claiming that about 50 members of PDAM Jaya's workers union occupied two separate offices of Palyja in the Penjernihan area in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. Both buildings are normally used as a logistics and technical center and an office for the engineering consultant department.

Palyja's public relations manager Uraini Umarjadi said members of the workers union had occupied the buildings and forced all the workers to leave.

She said the union members had also sprayed the walls of the buildings with paint. "PDAM Jaya's assets belong to PDAM Jaya," read one piece of graffiti.

Members of the workers union have repeatedly demonstrated, challenging the validity of a 19-month-old water supply agreement between PDAM Jaya and two foreign partners, PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) and PT Palyja.

"Water supply and management should be controlled by the state," they said, quoting Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution.

At least 500 union members earlier this month demonstrated at the City Council, demanding that Sutiyoso cancel the agreement before the end of September. They threatened that otherwise they would disrupt the city's water supply.

Sutiyoso, however, rejected their demands, saying that the administration would face lawsuits from the foreign firms if it canceled any deals without a clear legal reason.

The cancellation of the agreement would put PDAM Jaya in a difficult position, especially since it has a foreign debt worth Rp 800 billion (US$100 million), Sutiyoso said. (ind)