Parties want in-court settlement

JAKARTA: The Central Jakarta District Court commenced on Monday the trial of three large political parties accused by 13 new political parties of the illegal use of state assets as their offices, not resolved through out-of-court settlement.

Earlier, presiding judge Herri Swantoro ordered judge Agoes Subroto to mediate the settlement, for which only one hearing took place on Feb. 20.

According to the 13-party group's lawyer, Ikhsan Abdullah, his clients insisted on taking the case to court "because the accused parties were unable to produce ownership certificates for the offices they occupy".

"They said they were protecting the evidence ... although we have told them that we will withdraw the suit only if they can prove that the assets belong to the political parties."

The plaintiffs have accused the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) of violating Law No. 5/1960 on land reform, as the law stipulates that only individuals and legal entities are entitled to own land; therefore, they demanded the accused return the state assets they had occupied. --JP