Land tillers pledge hunger strike

Land tillers pledge hunger strike

JAKARTA (JP): More than 400 hundred heads of families will
begin a hunger strike on April 10 unless the city administration
revokes the operating permit of a private developer who is taking
over the land they have tilled for decades.

Twenty-one people, claiming to represent 460 families, went to
City Council yesterday to announce their hunger strike, saying it
was their last option because all their other efforts had failed.

Rusman Dolong, their spokesman, said they were all members of
the association of former fighters for Irian Barat (now Irian
Jaya), BKKB PIB.

Ruslan said they had sought help from the National Commission
on Human Rights, the House of Representatives and the Jakarta
Chapter of the Agency for Coordination of Support for the
Development of National Stability Bakorstanasda. "It was
fruitless."

The protesters said the disputed 20-hectares was on Jl.
Boulevard Barat Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, and that they all
lived nearby.

They told Commission A for administrative affairs that the
developer, PT Sri Kebon Jeruk Permai, had not consulted them
before starting activities on the plot they have cultivated since
the 1950s.

Rusman said the company's president commissioner, Mas'ud, a
retired general, promised to discuss possible compensation with
them.

"We were still waiting for the discussion when the developer
started its activities," said Rusman.

The tillers were shocked when the developer held a ground
breaking ceremony on Jan. 3, 1996, said Rusman, who is the head
of the association.

He claimed the developer's activities had caused the deaths of
some of the tillers.

Rusman said many of them had become vendors and scavengers
since losing their land.

Banang, member of Commission A, told them the commission would
help them. (11)