Laelae islanders refuse to move

Laelae islanders refuse to move

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi: About 200 families on Laelae
island have refused to move after the provincial administration
leased the island to ALatieF Corp. which plans to develop it into
a tourist resort.

The remaining residents on the island have refused to be moved
to a mainland village where each family has been promised a 36-
square-meter house. One hundred and twenty-seven families from
the island have already moved but the remaining 199 say they will
not.

Located just off Ujungpandang, the island was recently leased
to ALatieF Corp. as a maritime resort area. The company is owned
by Minister of Tourism and Culture Abdul Latief.

The remaining residents, all fishermen, say there is no
guarantee that their fishing hauls would be as good at the new
location as they are at the island.

They say that from Laelae they can earn about Rp 1 million
each month while fishermen elsewhere only earn between Rp 100,000
and Rp 200,000.

A group of about 50 lawyers from Ujungpandang, led by Andi R.
Asapa, said they were ready to help those on Laelae.

Andi acknowledged yesterday that the residents did not own the
land, that the island was wholly owned by the state. However, the
fishermen and their families have been living there since the
1930s. (31)