Parties want in-court settlement

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