`Kiblat' building case postponed
`Kiblat' building case postponed
JAKARTA (JP): The parties who claim to own a disputed building
on Jl. H. Agus Salim 24, Central Jakarta, have agreed to the
appeal of the city administration not to take action that will
make handling of the case more difficult.
"We have agreed to the request of the city administration not
to take any action until the completion of the investigation on
the case," said Hari Utomo, the circulation manager of Kiblat
biweekly.
Hari, two other representatives of the magazine, lawyers
representing the state-owned Bank Dagang Negara (BDN), a
representative of PT Technodev Inti Utama and a legal consulting
firm hired by BDN to vacate the building by force, took their
case to the City Law and Order Office on Thursday.
"We've invited the parties to this meeting and asked them to
produce required documents on the property in order to help solve
the dispute. We will work on it as soon as possible," said
an official of the City Public and Order Bureau, who asked to
remain anonymous.
Representatives of Technodev as well as BDN, however, kept
tight-lipped when asked to comment on the result of the meeting.
"I'm not authorized by my boss to speak to the press," said
Jonggi Simanjuntak, an executive of BDN.
A number of Kiblat employees, who were apparently afraid of a
possible assault by thugs and hoodlums hired by PT Technodev,
waited as three parties held closed door talks at the bureau
office.
Kiblat employees said that one of the thugs, apparently hired
by its rival, beat Muhammad Abduh, a reporter of Kiblat, on
Monday morning as he was taking pictures of the ruins of the
building.
During the dispute between Kiblat, the Indonesian Haj
Pilgrimage Foundation (PHI) and BDN, dozens of thugs, claiming to
work for PT Technodev Inti Utama legal consultant, suddenly
seized the building and harassed its employees over the weekend.
They then stormed the two-story building, demolished the
walls, knocked down the doors and shattered windows of the
building. Technodev claims that they represent BDN in the
dispute.
Earlier reports said that BDN had purchased the 514-square
meter property from the Indonesian Haj Pilgrimage Foundation
(PHI) in July, even though it is legally bound to conduct an 18-
year build-operate-and-transfer contract which will expire in
2006 with the management of Kiblat.
BDN, whose headquarters is located next to the Kiblat Center
building, wants to appropriate a 3,500-square-meter plot of its
neighbor's land and also the building now used by the magazine
for the expansion of its head office.
The editorial office of the Islamic magazine, with a
circulation of 20,000 copies per issue, is located in a building
that also houses several other corporations.
Kiblat, established in 1966, was jointly published by the Ya
Bunayya Foundation and the Kiblat Publisher Foundation. (09)