Linus vacates his Ragunan house

Former director of the Ragunan Zoo, Linus Simanjuntak, together with his family, yesterday unhappily vacated a house they had occupied for over two decades.

Lina, a daughter of the veterinary surgeon, left the keys to the large house located in the center of the zoo with the head of the zoo's security office, H. Machmud.

The zoo authorities ordered Linus to vacate the house by 12 a.m. yesterday. The initial deadline set by the governor's office had been May 31.

"We are sad to have to vacate this house although we asked the city administration to be allowed to stay here until our new house in Sawangan is completed in September, but we have no choice," sighed Lina minutes before she and her mother departed.

Linus himself was not at the scene when his family departed because he was busy supervising workers building his new house in Sawangan, 30 kilometers south of Ragunan.

Linus, who joined the zoo as a veterinary surgeon in 1969, was replaced by A. Dimjati Salfifi as zoo director last November.

"Pak (Mr.) Linus should have vacated the house soon after he relinquished his post as director of the zoo," said Dimjati. "In fact, nothing about this case is unusual since government officials should vacate their official residence soon after leaving their positions in order to allow their successors to move in."

"This ruling also applies to both low-ranking government officials and ministers."

Dimjati denied remarks by Linus family that the zoo authorities had deployed some 60 security officials to evict him and his family on Tuesday night.

"We only deployed 14 officials that night, not to evict Linus but to take care of the goods which were scattered around the house," Dimjati said.

In April the governor's office had sent a letter to Linus, asking him to vacate the house. When Linus showed no inclination to leave, the governor's office sent him a second and final letter on May 11.

Lina said that Linus family was shocked upon receiving this letter, which set May 31 as the deadline for vacating the premises, because he was expecting to be allowed to remain there until September.

The family then started demolishing an attached building, which occupied a 500 square meter area, or larger than the original house, they had built with their own money. (has)