Land for cemetery disputed

Land for cemetery disputed

JAKARTA (JP): A City Council faction has urged the governor to
settle the dispute over a 16-hectare plot which was earmarked to
become a cemetery in Kapuk Muara, West Jakarta.

Romulus Sihombing, secretary of the Indonesian Democratic
Party faction at the council, said over the weekend that the
city administration had not keep its promise to use the plot as a
cemetery. Instead a private company is going to develop the land.

Local residents visited the council on Thursday seeking help
over the problem. They accused administration officials of
cheating them.

The land formerly belonged to local inhabitants. In 1971 the
administration appropriated the land, saying that a public
cemetery would be built on the plot.

The subdistrict head said at the time that the land owners
could later reclaim the land if the administration used the land
for commercial purposes.

The residents agreed and gave up the land for between Rp 400
and Rp 600 per square meter.

Some years after, the residents heard that the city
administration had handed over the plot to private contractor PT
Grisenda through a barter deal.

Sihombing said that the barter deal was legally made by the
city administration and the City Council approved the deal.

"The City Council was not informed about the subdistrict
head's promise that the land owners were entitled to claim back
the land if the plot was used for commercial purposes rather than
a public cemetery. I am sure that the governor did not know of
the unwritten agreement," Sihombing said.

He said those providing councilors and the governor with
incomplete information deserve punishment. (09)