'Intimidated' residents complain to rights body
'Intimidated' residents complain to rights body
JAKARTA (JP): More than 150 residents of Tanah Merah
subdistrict, North Jakarta, visited the National Commission on
Human Rights yesterday to complain about intimidation by hoodlums
in a five-year-old land dispute.
Spokesman for the residents M. Sugianto said that a dozen
hoodlums, who were hired by private developer PT Pangestu Luhur,
threw stones at the residents' tents and makeshift houses on Jl.
Plumpang in Koja district Wednesday night.
Sugianto said PT Pangestu Luhur and PT Multi Data Paramestra,
which are contracted by Pertamina to build an office building on
the property, had started to build a fence enclosing the land.
"The hoodlums slapped women who tried to remonstrate with
them. Some of them even dropped their trousers in front of the
housewives," Sugianto said.
One of the residents, Berta, said the hoodlums threatened
local residents with swords and sharpened bamboos and
disturbed people passing through the area.
"We are poor people; we don't have the power to fight them. We
have reported our case to the House of Representatives and the
human rights commission, but it seems hopeless," she said.
Yesterday's visit to the commission's office was the
residents' fourth.
The last was on July 16 after which the rights body sent a
letter signed by its secretary-general, Baharudin Lopa, to
Pertamina and related parties requiring them to stop the
construction of the fence until the case was settled.
Sugiarto said the dispute began in 1992 when Pertamina ordered
more than 300 families, or 1,132 people, who occupied its 16-
hectare to move away. The families accepted then that the land
legally belonged to the state oil company.
However, the residents, who have managed the land since 1965,
refused leave. They also turned down compensation of Rp 37,000
(US$14.50) per square meter of their houses offered by the
company, he said.
He said the residents would move as long as Pertamina gave
additional compensation amounting to Rp 150,000 for each square
meter of their farm land as well.
Officers from North Jakarta mayoralty assisted by police and
military officers torn down their homes on a request from
Pertamina in 1992. The people then started to live in tents and
makeshift houses.
The residents filed a lawsuit against Pertamina, North Jakarta
mayoralty and the city administration in the Central Jakarta
District Court later the same year.
The court decided that the oil company had to give
compensation for homes and land according to the residents'
demands.
The court also asked the North Jakarta Mayoralty and City
Administration to pay Rp 5 million to the residents in
compensation of their damaged homes.
In 1993, the Jakarta High Court upheld the district court's
decision, but Pertamina appealed.
The case is currently waiting to be heard in the Supreme
Court, Sugianto said.
After failing to meet representatives of the commission
yesterday, the residents went to the North Jakarta police
precinct to report the case. (jun)