KTM may send dispute to RI, Korean Presidents

KTM may send dispute to RI, Korean Presidents

JAKARTA (JP): While claiming to be a legitimate owner of a
portion of a disputed plot in Cikampek, a foreign partner of
"national car" producer PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN) hinted on
Thursday the possibility of taking the matter to government-to-
government arbitration.

"We may file reports with both the Indonesian President and
the South Korean President if the Karawang District Court
continues with its plan to seize our land in Cikampek," Anton
Dedi Hermanto, a lawyer representing PT Kia Timor Motor (KTM), a
joint-venture car assembly plant, told a media conference at
TPN's main office on Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur in Central Jakarta.

"We're now discussing the possibility of going through a
government-to-government dispute resolution," he said.

He said the government-to-government approach was needed to
ensure that his client's investment in Indonesia remained intact.

"Our client has invested a huge amount of money here. We just
want to make sure that his investment is safe and protected by
the Indonesian government," the lawyer said.

Anton claimed that his client, KTM president Chul Koo Lee, had
three legitimate land ownership certificates (HGB) to a 73-
hectare plot in Cikampek, some 90 kilometers east of here. "The
certificates were issued by the Karawang office of the National
Land Agency."

He said he was opposed to the planned seizure of his client's
land on Wednesday as the court had failed to provide evidence
that the 73-hectare plot was affected by the court order.

"Our client's land was not included in the 237.5-hectare plot
to be seized by the Karawang District Court.

"I asked the court's secretary (Nana Sudjana) to show which
part of our client's land would be seized. He was unable to
answer," he said.

"Moreover, there was a May 4, 2000 ruling by the West Java
High Court which endorsed our client's request that the seizure
be suspended until the ongoing trial of our suit at the Karawang
District Court ends," he said, while pointing out that the
ongoing trial was discussing a 1998 Supreme Court ruling on the
disputed land's ownership.

A team of Karawang District Court employees and Budi Prakoso,
the owner of agribusiness company PT Saprotan, which was declared
the rightful owner of the 237.5-hectare plot in the 1998 Supreme
Court ruling, arrived at KTM's plot on Wednesday morning to seize
the land.

The 237.5-hectare plot, the ownership of which is also being
disputed by other parties, reportedly includes the 73-hectare
plot owned by KTM.

The court employees, however, were prevented from their job by
"supporters" of TPN who drove them off the land and threw stones
at a truck carrying signboards proclaiming the legal status of
the land ownership.

"They (Karawang District Court officials) can seize other
parts of the 237.5 plot, but not our 73-hectare plot," Anton
said.

A lawyer representing TPN, Masiga Bugis, similarly challenged
the Karawang court's authority to seize the land.

"PT Timor Putra Nasional also has two legitimate certificates
of land ownership, which annul the Karawang court's claim that
our client is not the rightful owner of the land," Masiga, who
spoke at the same media conference as Anton, said.

"The court also cannot seize our client's land as it is now
under the supervision of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
(IBRA)," he added.

Masiga dismissed the allegations that the TPN supporters who
drove the court officials off the land were hired hoodlums.

"They were TPN employees who acted spontaneously against the
Karawang court officials' plan to seize our client's plot," he
said.

TPN, which is owned by former president Soeharto's youngest
son Hutomo Mandala Putra, was appointed to develop a national car
in 1996. It enjoyed special privileges to run the project,
including tax breaks.

The project, however, was halted in 1998 as the country was at
the height of economic crisis and amid pressure form the World
Trade Organization. (imn)