Privately-managed islands should be returned: Council

By A. Junaidi

JAKARTA (JP): Within the spirit of regional autonomy, the City Council has demanded that business magnates return islands they own at Kepulauan Seribu (the "Thousand" Islands), North Jakarta, to the city administration.

Deputy chairman of the council's Commission A for administrative affairs Syarifien Maloko said the magnates, through their companies, had secured land certificates for the islands from the central government.

"The city administration can easily show that the magnates misused their certificates. Consequently the certificates could be revoked and the islands given back to the administration," Syarifien said here over the weekend.

He said the certificates, which usually were valid for 25 years, required, among other things, that the owners provided social and public facilities on 40 percent of their area. But he said that none of them had complied with that stipulation.

"I'm sure there is no social or public space in the magnates' islands," Syarifien of the Crescent and Star Party said.

He said if the terms of the certificates had been violated then the city administration could ask for their revocation, even though they had yet to expire.

Pulau Seribu, now a district of North Jakarta, which will be designated a new regency in the city, comprises 110 large and small islands.

Some 40 of the 110 islands were reportedly owned or managed by private companies, while the remaining 70 are either home to about 17,000 residents or are uninhabited.

Some of the 40 islands have been developed into tourist resorts, such as Bidadari, Putri, Ayer and Matahari.

Several magnates reportedly own the islands, including former President Soeharto's children, Sigit Harjojudanto, Bambang Trihatmodjo and Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, as well as Soeharto's half brother, Probosutedjo.

Other businessmen who reportedly own islands at Kepulauan Seribu are property tycoon Ciputra, publisher Surya Paloh, hotel businessman Pontjo Sutowo and bank owner Tommy Winata.

Councillor Syarifien said if the city could take over the islands, they would be a worthwhile asset for the new regency to develop.

"The islands have economic potential that could be tapped by the new regency," Syarifien said.

Another councillor, Abdul Azis Matnur, supported Syarifien's statement, urging the city administration to ensure that Pulau Seribu is used according to its spatial plan.

"This is necessary in order to control development in the islands and to avoid environmental damage," he said.

Azis also urged the city administration to empower local residents by providing them with positions in the new regency administration.

"Local residents should be given priority in the filling of the regency positions, including that of regent," he said on the weekend.

The council earlier rejected a candidate for regent, M. Rahardjo, who had been proposed by the administration.

Several officials reportedly offered themselves to the council as the best candidate for the position of Kepulauan Seribu regent.

Rahardjo, who currently heads the city's fishery agency, was deleted from the list of candidates as he was not competent and had no "financial" support.

Syarifien Maloko refused to comment on the competition to choose the regent from among the officials.

But he noted that as the regency will have a budget of hundreds of billions of rupiah like the other five mayoralties in the city, many people were eager to secure the position of regent.

He said the city's current budget had allocated Rp 35 billion for the establishment of the new regency, which also included the construction of physical infrastructure.