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)