Idroes won't go easy on district chief

JAKARTA (JP): Idroes, the deputy governor in charge of administrative affairs, says he will not hesitate to take stern action against the Pulogadung district chief either or any official if allegations concerning the falsification of land documents prove to be true.

"We have yet to take any action against the district chief, since we must honor the legal principle of the presumption of innocence," Idroes told reporters at his office yesterday.

He said that the city inspectorate office was investigating the case.

The deputy governor was responding to questions over allegations that the district chief of Pulogadung in East Jakarta, Muh. Subagdja, and several of his subordinates had been involved in the falsification of title documents in relation to a 6,723-square-meter plot of land in Pulomas, East Jakarta.

The land, originally owned by the Perumahan Pulomas Foundation (YPP), is said to have been bought by the Pendidikan Wiraswasta Indonesia Foundation (YPWI), the management of Wiraswasta Indonesia University, on Aug. 22, 1991.

Idroes said that the land had been bought by the YPP and that, therefore, the city administration had ordered the YPWI to return it to the YPP, under a written gubernatorial decision.

However, John Hamenda, a former deputy chairman of the YPWI, has claimed that the land belongs to him, following a transaction with a vendor named Abukasim.

The land dispute came to a head last week when John Hamenda and his supporters demolished the fence around the land on the basis of the land documents allegedly issued by Subagdja.

The current chairman of the YPWI, Halim S. Tirtamadja, reportedly said on Thursday that he was sure there had been collusion between John Hamenda and officials of the East Jakarta mayoralty.

Idroes said the dispute would be handled by the city inspectorate office for land dispute settlement, since the plot of land was an asset of the city administration.

He said that the team would start its work as soon as the city inspectorate office had completed its investigation of the East Jakarta officials. (32)