Linus vacates his Ragunan house

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)