Officers withdraw, students free to return to class
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Three days after they were kicked out of their school and left to conduct classes in the adjacent parking lot, the 64 students of state middle school SMP 56 on Jl. Melawai Raya, South Jakarta, once again enjoyed the comfort of their classrooms on Thursday.
In the morning, two Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislators used steel cutters to forcibly open the gate that had been locked by city public order officers. The officers had occupied the property since Sunday.
The students rushed inside immediately the gate was open and performed a group prayer.
The two legislators, Permadi and Aris Munandar, insisted on forcibly reopening the school when the South Jakarta Police rejected their request to remove the lock.
"I am taking responsibility for this on behalf of the PDI-P. The city administration has no right to seal the campus before the court delivers a verdict," said Permadi.
The legislators' action was condemned by Governor Sutiyoso, who said it was against the law.
"I ordered the public order officers and policemen to withdraw from the scene to avoid a possible clash," he said at City Hall.
Sutiyoso reiterated that the administration desired an amicable solution that put the students' interests first.
"I call on the students again to transfer to SMP 12 (on Jl. Wijaya IX), which is only 200 meters away. If they object to this, they can choose other state schools in Jakarta and we will take care of all arrangements for a transfer."
The state school was caught in the middle of a 2000 land swap deal between the city's national education office and PT Tata Disantara, owned by former manpower minister Abdul Latief -- who also owns the Pasaraya Grande department store next door. The plot on which the school stands was swapped by the city for two plots owned by Tata -- one in Bintaro, Tangerang, and another in Jeruk Purut, South Jakarta. The Jeruk Purut property is the proposed alternative site of SMP 56.
The PDI-P legislators' presence at the school has drawn the issue into the fray of electoral politicking and confirmed the party's disappointment with Sutiyoso.
Party executives blame the governor's unpopular policies against the people's interests -- particularly his policy of forced eviction -- for the sharp drop in votes from its Jakarta constituency in the April 5 legislative election.
The PDI-P had previously given its full backing to Sutiyoso through party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri's public endorsement of his 2002 reelection to a second term.
Later on Thursday, Sutiyoso told the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI) that 12 students had been willing to transfer to another school, but claimed that three of them had been threatened against it by unidentified people.
The union, which has just received a new office from the administration, claimed that the school was "illegal" and only recognized the new SMP 56 in Jeruk Purut, South Jakarta.
The school's teachers, students and their parents filed a civil suit with the South Jakarta District Court against the land swap deal, alleging the deal was rife with corruption, but the lower court rejected the suit. The plaintiffs are now awaiting a ruling on their appeal to the Jakarta High Court.