Koja plaintiff wants suit to stay put

JAKARTA (JP): Hasan Saman, a resident of North Koja in North Jakarta who is filing a Rp 6 billion lawsuit against the city administration and a state-owned company over a land dispute, asked the judge yesterday to turn down the defendants' argument.

"The defendants' argument which said that North Jakarta District Court is not legally competent to try the case should be ignored," Hasan said.

The defendants are the city administration and PT Pelindo, a state-owned seaport company. They are being represented by their lawyers, J. Pakpahan and M. Rachmat respectively.

The two lawyers agreed in the previous session to say that Saman's lawsuit "went to the wrong address" because every case which involves the decision of state bodies should be tried in the State Administrative Court.

However, Hasan said that their argument is not valid because the ruling of North Jakarta mayor, concerning land compensation amounts, does not have a strong legal basis.

"It could not be classified as a state body decision since it does not fulfill the eight requirements set by the 1986 Law No. 55 about the definition of a state body decision."

Hasan explained that the ruling violated five items set by the law, including ignoring a presidential decree about land compensation regulation.

He also said that there are some legal procedures which have already been carried out by presiding judge Rahajeng Endah, such as declaring the case open to the public, examining the identity of each party and striving to make a peaceful agreement between the belligerent parties.

"This is proof that North Jakarta District Court is legally competent to try the case and, according the Civil Procedure Law, a judge must declare their incompetence without the defendants' arguments," he said.

Hasan is an employee of a state-owned company whose house is built on 300 square meters of land which will be appropriated for the expansion of a container terminal. He refused the amount of compensation money provided by the mayoralty, saying that was too low.

North Koja subdistrict, adjacent to the Tanjung Priok container terminal, has been earmarked as a new cargo terminal extension site. Over 32,785 people in the 144-hectare area will have to move before construction begins.

The planned $498-million terminal will the property of PT Pelindo and Humpuss Terminal Peti Kemas III, and will begin operating in October 1998. Humpuss Terminal Peti Kemas III is a business owned by businessman Hutomo Mandala Putera.

Compensation

Most of the residents seem willing to leave their land but they object to the amount of compensation being offered by the appropriation committee.

North Jakarta Mayor H. Suprawito, who is also the head of the North Koja land appropriation committee, has offered three level of land compensation; Rp 160,000 (US$74) per square meter for residents whose land is along the main road, Rp 130,000 for land located on subdistrict streets and Rp 100,000 for land located on alleys.

The offer was rejected by Hasan because, according to the 1993 Presidential Decree No. 55 and the 1993 Minister of Finance Decree No. 174, the land compensation for North Koja residents should be based on the value of taxable property (NJOP) set by the government.

"The estimated land price in North Koja area in 1994 is around Rp 6 million per square meter. Based on the 1993 NJOP the land price is Rp 614,000 a square meter," he said.

Presiding judge Rahajeng adjourned the court session until Oct. 10 to decide whether or not she will accept the defendants' argument.(03)