Govt makes offer to Kedungombo residents

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)