Officers withdraw, students free to return to class

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.