Irian man can start again: Soerjono

Irian man can start again: Soerjono

JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice Soerjono said yesterday that the
Jayapura district court had the authority either to comply with
or ignore a letter he wrote to it earlier this month, purportedly
overturning an earlier Supreme Court decision to award an
Irianese man Rp 18.6 billion (US$8.5 million) in a land dispute
with the governor of Irian Jaya.

"According to the law on the Supreme Court, only the head of a
district court has the authority to execute or reject a decision
of the supreme court," he said.

He said that the Supreme Court's earlier decision in favor of
Hanoch Hebe Ohee, who represented the Ongge and Hanoch keret
(sub-clans), could not be executed because the defendant was not
a legal body which owned property.

He advised the plaintiffs to bring a new suit.

"In civil matters people can file lawsuits any time if they
believe that a verdict is unfair," he said.

In 1992 the Supreme Court ordered the Irian Jaya governor and
heads of the Irian Jaya office of the Directorate of Agriculture,
the Directorate of Commercial Plantations, the Directorate of
Forestry, the Directorate of Animal Husbandry, and the
Directorate of Fishery to pay the plaintiff Rp 18.6 billion in
compensation for land appropriated by the provincial
administration.

The dispute, over a 62 hectare plot of land located about 30
kilometers from the Sentani Airport, began in 1984 when Ohee
sought to regain the property from the Irian government.

Ohee, who has spent no less than Rp 1 billion (US$450,000) on
the 10 year legal battle, claims that the property is communal
land belonging to his clan since the 1940s.

He won the legal battle at the district court level in July,
1985. After losing an appeal to the high court, the provincial
government appealed to the Supreme Court in 1988 and lost again.

Soerjono said yesterday that the lawsuit should have been
filed, not only against the Irian Jaya governor, but also against
the five agencies. (imn)