Govt makes offer to Kedungombo residents
SEMARANG (JP): The Central Java government has made a goodwill gesture with its adversaries in the Kedungombo land dispute, offering to pay part of the compensation for the land it had procured pending the outcome of a new trial.
Chief of the province's High Prosecutors Office Harry Moerdjono said the government's offer of Rp 4,000 (US$1.85) a meter for the land still stands and the money can be collected immediately.
The Supreme Court in a controversial ruling awarded the 34 displaced villagers Rp 50,000 per meter, overturning the decisions of the lower courts which supported the government's offer. The court also ordered the government to pay Rp 2 billion to the villagers for non-material losses.
The Central Java government says it is now planning to petition for a new trial, saying that the Supreme Court's ruling far exceeded even the Rp 10,000 per meter sought by the villagers.
Some 60,000 other villagers had accepted the government offer and agreed to move to make way for the huge Kedungombo dam.
Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday that Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie is slated to visit Kedungombo to conduct dialogs with local residents.
Chairman of the Central Java office of the Association of the Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) Rofiq Anwar said however that the visit has nothing to do with the Supreme Court's ruling.
Rofiq said it was not definite yet if Habibie, who is the ICMI chairman, would visit the area given the present development.
Moerdjono said that the prosecutor's office perceived the Supreme Court's decision as strange, especially when it concerned the "non-material" losses and the higher compensation it arranged for the villagers.
"In the suit the villagers never demanded compensation for such losses. But out of the blue, the court in its ruling granted it," he said.
Based on those facts, he said, the government was convinced that it would either win or be given lighter penalties, adding that the petition for a case review would be ready for submission later this month.
Installments
"We are optimistic we will win because we have new data which can serve as a sophisticated weapon," he said. He refused to elaborate when asked about what kind of new information the government has.
In a related matter, an expert in land law suggested yesterday that the government pay the compensation in installments and refrain from requesting a judicial review.
"If the government feels it a burden to pay the compensation, they can pay by installments and need not submit the review," Dr. Maria S.W Sumardjono told Antara news agency.
She said that the Supreme Court's decision was fair, which meant that it would not be necessary for the government to ask for a review.
"It would be wise if the Central Java government accept the ruling, because it is wise enough and has been thoroughly decided," she said.
Regarding the "non-material" losses granted by the court, Maria believes that there was nothing wrong with that when the villagers have morally suffered because they were taken away from their land.
It was also reported yesterday that the prolonged drought in the provnice had reduced the water level in the dam from 90 meters to 87 meters.
The situation, however, did not affect the flow of water to the areas which make use of the dam. An official said that the dam still manages to supply water for 54,200 hectares of rice fields. (har/par)