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)