Mayor asked to help settle land dispute

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso ordered East Jakarta Mayor Sudarsono to investigate and settle a dispute between a city- owned developer and a private bank over a 2,187-square-meter plot on Jl. Matraman.

The governor said he expected that PD Sarana Jaya and Bank Bira -- which is currently occupying 1,063 square meters of the disputed land -- could reach a win-win solution.

"I believe we can work things out together because both parties involved want to cooperate to clear up this matter," Sutiyoso said, adding that he hoped the dispute could be resolved this month.

The land dispute between Bank Bira and PD Sarana Jaya started a few months ago when the bank bought a plot of state land in Matraman supposedly owned by a man called Ziyad, councilors were told in a plenary session with executives of Sarana Jaya on Thursday.

After the transaction, Bank Bira reportedly received the land deeds and became the owner of the land after it was legally changed from Ziyad's name to Bank Bira.

However, Gubernatorial Decree No. Bd 3/1/54/69, dated Sept.10, 1969, states that the land belongs to PD Sarana Jaya.

The decree also lists the company's other properties, including buildings on Jl. Cikini Raya, Jl. Pegangsaan Barat, Jl. Pegangsaan Timur and Jl. KH. Ashari.

Sarana Jaya spokesman Brandjangan said the company sent a letter to East Jakarta mayoralty and the National Land Agency (BPN) in October, to tell Bank Bira to stop processing the land deeds.

"But there has been no response from BPN, which is the institution that has the power to issue or cancel a land deed.

"The most horrible thing is, I think some of the officials in BPN must have known that the property actually belonged to the municipality."

Brandjangan said the East Jakarta mayoralty had responded to the letter by ordering its officials to check on the condition of the plot.

"But it was too late because Bank Bira had already got the land deed transferred into its name last month."

He said his company had never sold any of its properties -- as outlined in the decree -- to any other parties.

"What we did was rent the plot on Jl. Matraman to Ziyad because we hadn't started our development project there."

According to Brandjangan, Sarana Jaya knew nothing about the tenant selling the land.

"We had no suspicion at all because the tenant (Ziyad) always paid us the rent."

He said he suspected there had been collusion in the illegal sale.

"We understand that this matter is not entirely Bank Bira's fault, because they bought the plot in good will. What is wrong here is the procedure.

"Even though Bank Bira has a legal land document to support its ownership status, I believe that it can be canceled in the name of the law because they have bought state land without following the proper procedures, such as notifying us before the transaction is made."

Bank Bira representatives were not available for comment and Ziyad's whereabouts remain a mystery. (edt)