Regent warns businessman

Regent warns businessman

JAKARTA (JP): Tangerang regent H. Saifullah A.R. has warned
businessman Theo Soe Kiat, alias Adi Pranata, not to act
arbitrarily in appropriating a plot of land that belongs to the
local people of Jatake in the Legok subdistrict, Tangerang.

"I hope the land appropriation dispute can be settled
amicably. Otherwise I propose that the villagers whose land was
appropriated by Theo without proper compensation file a lawsuit
against him (Theo)," Saifullah said in Tangerang over the weekend
as quoted by Antara.

The regent was responding to recent complaints raised by two
hundred Jatake villagers with the National Commission on Human
Rights about the forgery of land ownership documents by Theo who
reportedly claimed to be a "Cendana man"--an obvious reference to
the residential address of President Soeharto.

The land for which the documents were forged was occupied by
60 families.

One of the villagers told Antara that Theo told them that
their land would be appropriated for state-owned soybean and corn
plantation projects. He said the villagers agreed to accept Rp
300 per square meter for their land because it was for government
projects, in which they were told they could participate.

However, Theo later reportedly used about one hectare of the
land for a palm nursery he owned. In 1989, the National Bureau
for Land Affairs issued land certificates for the villagers. "But
Theo confiscated the certificates," the villager claimed.

The villagers charged that Theo had forced them to sign blank
sheets of paper when he took their documents.(bas)