Koja residents demand meeting with governor

Koja residents demand meeting with governor

JAKARTA (JP): Koja Utara residents said yesterday that they
were waiting to meet with Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirja, to
explain the whole situation regarding their land dispute, a
resident said.

"We want the governor to get information directly from us
about the real situation here," Mochdar Barga told The Jakarta
Post.

He said the residents also wanted to meet Jakarta military
commander Maj. Gen. Wiranto.

"In a meeting with the National Commission on Human Rights
last week, the commission promised to bring the two parties
together and to try and arrange a meeting between the residents,
the governor and the Jakarta Military Commander," he said.

Residents of Koja Utara met with the commission on Friday and
were received by the commission's secretary-general, Baharudin
Lopa.

Commission members told the residents that they would meet
with the governor and Jakarta military commander and ask them to
give the residents a chance to talk to them directly.

Lopa said such a meeting would be the best way to solve the
Koja dispute since meetings between residents and local
administrations have brought no solution.

"This is the first land case I have ever come across where the
compensation rate differences, as set by the residents and the
company, have gone so far," Lopa said.

Mochdar added that the residents have sent letters to the
governor, the military commander and even to the Vice-President,
since the land dispute began last year.

"But we have not received any response. That is why we want to
meet directly with the higher officials," he said.

On Tuesday, the Jakarta military commander, Maj. Gen. Wiranto,
said that residents who obstructed the development of the
container cargo terminal project were considered criminals and
that they would be sanctioned legally, particularly those who
destroyed company property.

Commenting on Wiranto's statement, Mochdar said he was sure
the statement was not aimed at them. "We support the project and
we never destroy anything. What we want is compensation that does
not victimize us," he said, adding that the statement was aimed
at certain people who had used the situation in their own
interests.

Over the past two weeks, Wiranto has issued two statements
related to Koja dispute, warning the residents that the project
on the 90-hectare plot of land would be continued according to
schedule and that the city military would safeguard the project.

According to Mochdar, certain people have received
compensation but were still hanging around the site persuading
the remaining residents to sell their houses.

"They are working for the compensation team established by the
North Jakarta mayoralty and PT Pelindo II," he said.

There have been many cases in which, due to fraud, losses were
suffered by residents whose houses were sold, he added.

"These people dare to offer prices of more than Rp 2 million
per square meter, as long as it is they who do the selling," he
said.

After the deals were made the residents would realize that
there were differences between the actual facts and the data
stated in the documents, he said.

The land dispute began when PT Pelindo II and PT Humpuss
announced last year that they would appropriate 90 hectares of
land for a new cargo terminal.

The company set the compensation rate at between Rp 100,000
per square meter to Rp 150,000 per square meter, while the
residents are asking for Rp 2,275,000 per square meter. The North
Jakarta Mayor later, through a decree, set the compensation rate
at Rp 100,000 per square meter to Rp 160,000 per square meter.
(01)